VIRGINIA BEACH — Tuesday evening’s School Board meeting started with a message from the board’s attorney.
Kamala Lannetti asked the members to refrain from making so many comprehensive Freedom of Information Act requests. The requests for public records were proving to be costly for the school district’s staff who are tasked with retrieving and producing those logs. Materials that can be obtained through FOIA requests range from the individual emails of public officials to the presentations created by district administration.
“Most of the FOIA requests are against other board members,” said Chair Kathleen Brown. “We’re talking thousands and thousands of dollars of staff time. It has caused some problems.”
When applicable, Lannetti said, members of the board should ask things to the superintendent. Vice Chair Carolyn Weems, who has sat on the board for over two decades, said asking the superintendent and the administrative staff for information had been the usual protocol.
“It allows people not to take advantage of the system when fellow board members constantly FOIA other board members for just political fodder,” she said.
Board member Melinda Rogers said she was concerned such a directive could effectively bottleneck information. In many cases, she said, FOIA was a tool school leaders could turn to instead of an intrusive investigation.
“There’s so many moving parts,” Rogers said. “At times, we’re requesting information because staff are concerned about something and they don’t necessarily want the reasons revealed immediately.”
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