FOIA Friday: Richmond city and schools face scrutiny

One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise.

In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating.

Richmond fails to uphold transparency plan

Richmond is facing new transparency questions after the city failed for seven years to follow its own law requiring routine publication of financial transactions, The Richmonder reported in May.

The outlet found the city followed the law for about four years before it stopped posting new data in 2019. In 2024, it also removed older data because it contained confidential information that had been missed during earlier reviews.

Mayor Danny Avula’s administration republished most of the information in April after The Richmonder filed a records request for the transactions. The administration took office in January 2025. The Richmonder said the data detailed a range of financial transactions, from a $55 million debt service payment to a $600 paint job for a bathroom in the mayor’s office.

The administration said concerns over confidential information have prevented the city  from ”complying with a law meant to help assure Richmond taxpayers that public funds are spent wisely,” The Richmonder wrote. City officials have said reviewing the records takes significant time as a result.

The news outlet also reported that Councilmember Kenya Gibson planned to introduce an oversight resolution asking the council to investigate the city’s failure to publish the payment register. 

Courthouse News Service challenges court practices

A federal judge’s ruling allows a closely watched over access to Virginia to move forward, after court officials argued the case should be thrown out before evidence could be examined. 

The suit, filed by Courthouse News Service, challenges restrictions tied to the Virginia’s Officer of the Court Remote Access system, known as OCRA, which gives attorneys and government workers access to non-confidential court filings that journalists and the public cannot directly access.    

In a May 5 ruling, U.S. District Judge James Jones said the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that Virginia’s policies may improperly delay or restrict public access to newly filed civil complaints. Jones wrote that disputes over how the OCRA system functions are issues for the later stages of the case, not grounds for dismissal at the outset. 

Shortly after the ruling, Karl Hade, executive secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, appealed the decision on behalf of court officials to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. 

Public allowed to hear complaints against board

Complaints involving Suffolk County School Board members are now open to the public, the Suffolk News Herald reports.

The news outlet said in May that the board revised its regulations to allow such matters to be addressed in public rather than in closed session.

The change also addresses disputes over board norms, member discipline and transparency. 

Some of the issues included court rulings finding FOIA violations, litigation over public access to meetings, and the censure of former board member Sherri Story when the board’s operations and practices became subject of public debate.

Richmond schools defend redactions in facilities department probe

Richmond City Public Schools is standing by a personnel exemption after redacting an internal investigation report on its facilities department, which is responsible for maintaining school buildings.

According to WTVR, which requested the records, the school system’s report revealed little about allegations of mismanagement under former director Bobby Hathaway, who left during the probe.

Virginia Coalition for Open Government Director Megan Rhyne told the network that “the personnel exemption was never designed and never intended to cover up wrongdoing by public employees, particularly when that wrongdoing has to do with the misappropriation of public funds or taxpayer dollars.”

She said the exemption should apply to human resources matters or performance reviews, not alleged wrongdoing. She believes RPS applied the exemption too broadly.

In 2024, a circuit court judge ruled that the district improperly withheld the report on the Huguenot High School graduation shooting investigation, forcing its release. In that case, RPS relied on a different FOIA exemption.

WTVR requested records tied to the facilities investigation, which revealed operational failures.

The news outlet reported the investigation uncovered misuse of purchase card accounts, including instances in which non-facilities personnel used the department’s account for purchases at Lowe’s. 

Investigators also found that parts of the work order system were ”completely ignored,” and materials were not properly recorded and stored. The report said a lack of protocols “created an environment susceptible to loss and misuse of assets.”

Investigators recommended operational reforms and a forensic review of all purchases made by the facilities department to determine the “full scope of financial impact.”

Much of the remainder of the report was heavily redacted.

Asked about the redactions, RPS spokesperson Alyssa Schwenk told WTVR that “the division must balance public interest and legal obligations to current and former employees. Our consistent practice is to protect information directly concerning personnel.”