Judge: School Board Must Release Some of Superintendent's Emails

The Fairfax County School Board must release at least some of the emails sent by Superintendent Jack Dale during the Clifton Elementary School controversy, a judge ruled Friday morning.

“The unfortunate thing about this argument is that there is nothing in those documents that makes a hill of beans of difference, but the legal issue has been brought,” said Judge Leslie M. Alden during the hearing.

At issue are a series of emails withheld from a Freedom of Information Act request made in response to the school board’s controversial decision to close Clifton Elementary School. Clifton resident Jill Hill put in a request last year to view all emails exchanged between school board members during public meetings held in June and July of 2010, according to court records.

school officials withheld much of the correspondence involving Jack Dale.

“It’s unfathomable to believe that any email sent by the superintendent would be barred from public view,” said Michael Guiffre, who is representing Hill from the Patton Boggs law firm in Washington, D.C.

About 20 to 30 documents were withheld, Alden said. School board attorneys stated that the emails were withheld partially because of a provision in state law which states that correspondence by a state chief executive officer is not public record. 

During Friday’s hearing, attorneys on both sides argued over which emails would fall under the exemption.

While the judge ultimately determined that the school board will have to release at least some of those emails, attorneys are still in discussion over exactly which documents will be released.

“We were discussing some innocuous letters, so we will see,” said Tom Cawley, a lawyer with McLean firm Hunton & Williams LLP who representing the school board.

The content of the emails was not revealed at Friday’s hearing, though both attorneys for the school board and the judge stated that the emails would be unlikely to be of great impact.