Business Insider Public records request August 25, 2022

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

-All separation agreements and settlements reached with current and former teachers who taught in the district between January 1, 2017 through the day this request is fulfilled.

-All public records relating to any and all claims of misconduct against current and former teachers who taught in the district between January 1, 2017 through the day this request is fulfilled. Such public records should include, but not be limited to, all complaints; allegations; claims; investigatory reports; analyses; summaries; memoranda and/or notes; interview recordings; transcripts and/or notes; reviews; emails, text or other electronic messages, voicemails, and/or other communications and/or correspondence; determinations; decisions; orders; resignation letters; employment reclassification documents; offers in compromise and/or settlement agreements; termination and/or transfer papers; letters of reproval and/or other disciplinary actions, whether imposed or not; referrals to law enforcement, administrative, and/or licensing agencies, departments, and/or bodies; appeals; court filings and/or rulings; and all similar materials notwithstanding the use of other terminology, nomenclature, or categorization by this or other involved public agencies.

To further clarify this request, the scope of the misconduct at issue arises from, relates to, and/or is a consequence of sexual behavior and/or activities with district students, whether currently or previously enrolled, and notwithstanding whether any such behavior and/or activities were proven to have occurred or not. The construction of this request should be understood to be liberal and expansive, such that all public records which may be remotely responsive should be produced in full and may only be withheld and/or redacted only as required by law.

I would like these records in the electronic format that they are stored in, transmitted via email or other digital method; please refrain from sending paper copies of the records.

Rather than provide all responsive records at once, I ask that you provide copies of records on a rolling basis, as they become available.

If you determine that any of the information qualifies for an exemption from disclosure, I ask you to note whether the exemption is discretionary, and if so whether it is necessary in this case to exercise your discretion to withhold the information. In any event, please provide a signed notification citing the legal authorities on which you rely if you determine that any of the information is exempt and will not be disclosed.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Tom Nash, a citizen of Virginia, in coordination with Insider Staff.

Good afternoon, thank you for the update. I'll look forward to hearing back from your office next week, as provided under the law.

Hello Wayde,

We are having difficulties accessing the correspondence in the GovQA file. Any chance you could attach the correspondence to this message or confirm the username for the GovQA account? We attempted resetting the password but have not received an email.

Thank you so much for your help with this request.

Sincerely,

MuckRock

Hi Wayde,

Thank you so much for your prompt response. We are referencing the following request:
Virginia Freedom of Information Act Request: Business Insider Public records request August 25, 2022

The request submitted is attached below.

Thank you again for your continued help with this request.

Sincerely,

MuckRock

Hello Wayde,

Thank you for the update. I'm afraid there appears to be some confusion here, both with respect to the scope of my request and what the district is legally allowed to withhold from public view under state statute. I'm hopeful that we can resolve this matter without seeking a judicial remedy through the courts, which my newsroom is prepared to do. Can you confirm your understanding of the following?

With respect to the separation and settlement agreements I've requested, these agreements are not, as you seem to assert, part of an employee's personnel file. Indeed, I've requested these same records from other districts across the state, and in each case they were stored in a readily segregable and accessible format. As these agreements do not require review or redaction, providing the requested copies should require little staff time to process.

While it is true that some information in an employee's personnel file is exempt from disclosure, as you have noted in your response, these exemptions do not apply to matters of sexual misconduct and abuse. In an effort to further assist you in processing the remainder of this request, records regarding “activities with district students” should be interpreted to mean “Sexual Harassment,” “Unwelcome Conduct,” “Hostile Educational Environment,” and/or “Sexual Violence,” involving one or more former or current students.

I do not wish to single out Loudoun County Public Schools in my public reporting for using its discretion, puzzlingly so at that, to withhold from public view what other districts have lawfully disclosed. There is still time to avoid that. Given the nature of my request and the district's obligation to ensure student safety, I trust you will treat this request with the attention and care that it deserves moving forward, rather than attempt to dismiss it out of hand.