Fairfax County Public Schools officials deserve criticism for trampling on the rights of county citizens. The recent improper release of a child’s private information, and the equally inappropriate use of strong-arm tactics to stifle debate during public hearings on a controversial redistricting plan are cases in point. If Fairfax County School Board Chairman Daniel Storck and fellow board members don’t rein in these abuses, they shouldn’t be surprised when a court steps in to do it for them.
Hunter Mill School Board member Stuart Gibson, D, was forced to apologize this past Friday for releasing privileged information about the 8-year-old son of his political opponent last summer. But Gibson’s apology came only after the Virginia Board of Education found in favor of the boy’s mother who charged Gibson with multiple violations of regulations concerning the rights of special education students and parents. Two weeks ago, Gibson was still claiming to be the “victim” — not the special-ed third-grader whose privacy rights he violated. Unfortunately, the School Board’s carefully worded statement on the state board’s decision contained no official condemnation of Gibson’s actions; instead, it unquestionably accepted his lame excuse that “it was certainly not my intent [to cause any harm]” — even though the information was deliberately released during a political campaign. Instead of merely promising to get “additional training,” the board should have demanded Gibson’s resignation.
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Then there is the case of Vienna resident Bruce Bennett who was forcibly removed by the police at the direction FCPS officials from two public meetings on proposed boundary changes. Bennett’s sin was bringing his camcorder to record the proceedings. Yet, Virginia’s authoritative Freedom of Information Advisory Council confirmed to The Examiner that Bennett was unquestionably entitled under state law to record those meetings. Incredibly, FCPS flack Paul Regnier claimed in a Dec. 21 e-mail to this newspaper that “groups of citizens attending the small group sessions are neither ‘public bodies’ nor advisory committees appointed by public bodies…” and therefore not subject to Virginia’s open-meetings laws. Obviously, Regnier didn’t read FCPS own handout, which described the Dec. 19 meeting Bennett sought to record as a “town meeting.” Town meetings by definition are public meetings.
Even more distressing than Regnier’s blatant disregard of Virginia’s public meetings statute is Storck’s insistence that school officials can ignore the law whenever it suits their purposes. After being called to order, the meetings Bennett sought to record were broken into smaller groups, Storck said, “for the convenience of staff.” The smaller groups were not public meetings, he said. His ludicrous claim came only after Storck repeatedly refused to discuss the Bennett case. Such Nixonian insolence insults all Fairfax residents.
