Hearing Scheduled Today in Clifton Elementary FOIA Case

Today a judge is scheduled to rule whether or not Fairfax County schools Superintendent Jack Dale is exempt from public record’s laws requiring correspondence between state employees to be public.

At issue are a series of emails that were 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.

While Hill eventually was able to obtain most of those emails sent by school board members, correspondence sent by Jack Dale to school board members was withheld by school officials.

Fairfax County School officials wrote that Dale’s emails were withheld because of a provision in state law which states that emails sent by a state chief executive officer are not public record, according to court records.  

Hill’s attorneys have argued that the provision only applies to correspondence by a CEO of an institution of higher education, such as a public university. 

The matter will be discussed at a hearing today at 10 a.m. in Judge Leslie M. Alden’s courtroom.