Just in case you're wondering about what I'm hiding from the school board member who made a FOIA request for all of my school-related e-mails, the answer is:
Nothing. (Cue sound of crickets chirping here.)
When Style Weekly noted this week that a School Board Member has made a FOIA request of five other board members and me, it reported that the board member has "not received one document of an e-mail between individual board members." http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=16893
In fact,there are over 1,000 pages of e-mails, including many between individual board members, sitting in the school board clerk's office for public access. The 1,000+ pages took over 21 staff hours to compile and cost the system at least $807.
I've learned more about FOIA in the past few days than I ever thought I'd know, and I fully support the foundation of transparency and openness that the law requires of public bodies. So I searched my e-mails--even taking a day off from my "day job" at the Central Virginia Foodbank to make sure that I was fully compliant with the law. Now I'm going back through my correspondence to ensure that nothing was missed.
As a school board member who sends regular e-mail updates to constituents, I embrace open communication. The "Local Government Officials' Guide to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act" (reading I highly recommend and recently added to my bedsite table for handy reference) states that FOIA "continues to be...a valued guarantee of openness in government." I agree. Additionally, I understand completely why the brochure also mentions that FOIA can be "a source of legitimate frustration for local government officials" when they receive "repetitive and abusive request for records, coming more often from political opponents than from the media."
FOIA requests can take time and effort that I would like to spend on other pressing school board issues, but, everyone has a right to know about the transaction of public business, so I'll do what it takes to make sure that happens. And I won't let the aforementioned feelings of frustration get in the way of my commitment to this job. The real issues facing public schools are incredibly engaging. The side issues? That's just politics FOIA.
