In what I can only call great news, a group of parents, backed by the Friends of Community Schools filed suit Friday to stop the unnecessary closure of Clifton Elementary School. As we’ve noted in prior posts, the Clifton Elementary issue has brought the community of Clifton together and has pointed out the glaring issue of School Board members, like Springfield Board Member Liz Bradsher, who seem to think they represent the school system and not the taxpayers.
The parents are represented by Patton Boggs, one of the top DC public policy law firms and lobbying shops – which, if anything, should tell the FCPS that the parents are serious.
FCS held a community meeting last Monday night that brought out over 100 members of the community, along with Senator George Barker (D) and Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity.
You can read more about the suit in the FCS press release here.
UPDATE: I’ve received a copy of the complaint, with the names of the plaintiffs redacted. The complaint can be found here.
what drives me nuts about this is nobody as actuually articulated either side. its become so poisonous that the actual merits seem to be something nobody cares about. When a public official creates that sort of atmosphere, its time to go.
Great news indeed. Another example of a School Board that doesn’t know who it’s really supposed to represent.
Good for them! It’s about time that our elected officials learn that they must listen to those who put them in office! FCPS school board has NEVER paid the least bit of attention to the desires of any community. They are the most arrogant group of officials I’ve ever encountered.
Chris, I think the parents have articulated their side very well. The School Board and the staff have come up with contradictory statements, stuff that isn’t backed up well, and when they’re challenged on it, the Board starts acting like this is some kind of move to save money.
The whole issue has been handled poorly – there’s no reason the school has to close, and I hope that we can take this issue as a jumping off point to clean house on the School Board.
HOLY *&%#! Patton Boggs?!
Bradsher, Tistadt, Gibson – sheesh, all – you are in deep caca. Really deep.
These are the big dogs – they DO NOT mess around – tune in folks, cuz they are going to open a big ol’ can of whoop ass on FCPS.
Sounds like parents are finally going to have a say in this County – good for you (us)!
Brian…assuming they are going to need cash – and is this a good cause or what?Where do we send $?
FP, you can make donations on the FCS website at http://www.savecliftonelementary.org/
One can also donate to outthefauxconservatives.org, where you can be sure we’ll never seek judicial overreach [The Clifton plaintiffs seek to permanently enjoin an elected body from acting when no constitutional violation is alleged]; we’ll never exploit the taxpayers [Are contributions to Save Clifton Elementary tax deductible? What about contributions from parents who would benefit from a court ruling in their favor?]; and, we’ll never act to cause government to waste money [If the court throws out the lawsuit, will the plaintiffs make a contribution to the County in the amount of the County's legal fees?]. Put your money where YOUR mouth is, not THEIRS.
about time. the lack of oversight and transparency on the part of the School Board and the Administration has been bordering illegal for some time now.
When people request class size information, they say ‘we don’t have that information and it will cost thousands to get it for you.’ it’s disgusting that so-called ‘republicans’ and ‘conservatives’ are defending that trash.
Joel, like I said over at NLS, read the complaint. They are arguing that the process the FCPS used was flawed – by both state standards and by the system’s own strategic governance program.
There’s nothing anti-conservative about wanting the school system to follow it’s own rules and the Virginia Code. There’s nothing anti-conservative about seeking to exercise one’s rights. As I said before, if the system had handled this correctly, there’d be no suit.
C’mon Brian, you can’t have really missed the fundamental point I made twice. There is everything anti-conservative about asking a court to permanently enjoin the elected board from closing the school. The plaintiffs have not alleged that their “rights” have been violated, at least in an unconstitutional way. Asking the court simply to order the board to reconsider its decision in a more open process and have its reconsidered decision be made on the merits is the true conservative remedy. I also would like to hear a reaction to Martin Lomansey’s most recent case at NLS for why even this modest remedy would be unavailable to the plaintiffs.
Joel, the parents in Clifton aren’t stupid. This process has been going on for months and the decision has been predetermined. The FCPS made clear months ago they wanted to close the school, and no amount of evidence or efforts to the contrary were going to deter them. They’ve answered every excuse the Board and the FCPS have put up.
It doesn’t require a constitutional violation for someone to criticize a process that has been funadmentally flawed because the people engaged in the process have not been forthright and have not been willing to reconsider their decision regardless of the concern of those who will be most affected by the decision.
There’s no reason why all of these different options can’t be done at the same time.
I know the best chance we have to keep the school open is to fire the Board Members who voted against the closure, especially Liz Bradsher, and replace those members with Board members who are responsive to the community and aren’t simply extensions of the staff.
My point (for the third time) simply is that it DOES require a constitutional violation for a court to substitute its judgment for the will of the people as expressed by its elected representatives. I never said the parents in Clifton are stupid. I merely pointed out that the plaintiffs’ asking the court to permanently enjoin the board from closing the school isn’t conservative and is inconsistent with complaints conservatives often make about so-called activist judges.
I’m still waiting for someone to counter Martin’s arguments about what the law is and what remedies are available to those who can prove the law has been violated.
Joel, you’re missing the point. The will of the “people” here is not the elected school board – which includes members who have said in plain language that they represent the system not the taxpayers. The vast majority of the people affected by this decision – the parents of children at Clifton – oppose it. I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of Clifton residents, even those unaffected by the school directly, are opposed to the closing.
If the court chooses to enjoin the closure, it won’t be substituting it’s judgment for the judgment of the School Board. It would simply be stopping the decision from having an impact until the process is completed properly. If that happens, then the school is closed and there’s nothing a court can do to stop it. The point here is simply that the Board has not followed the rules and that’s what the parents want.
I’m not going to waste my time countering Martin’s argument because I don’t know that he’s a lawyer and I don’t know if he’s familiar with the law at all, I am unfamiliar with this area of the law and haven’t claimed otherwise, and that type of a discussion is better handled by the attorneys in the case. If the case withstands the demurrer, then we’ll see the answer to Martin’s question.
Brian, I think I goofed and didn’t read the complaint closely enough. It’s not that the plaintiffs expect the court to prohibit the board from ever deciding to close the school, just that the board should not close the school based on the decision it already made. I apologize to you, the plaintiffs, their counsel, and your readers.
Hey folks – due process is due process. The residents of Fairfax County owe a debt of gratitude to the Clifton community for ending the school bullying going on by the School Board. The documents are all out on the FCPS website and, if you take time to read them, jsrutstein, rather than issuing a kneejerk opinion, you will find that the Board embarked on a ten-month process on OUR DIME (if only!) to arrive at the exact same conclusion they set out to achieve last July. It isn’t peculiar that a ‘community engagement’ process creating all kinds of committees, meetings, reports, etc. turned out the identical recommendation in May ’10 that FCPS “Staff” started with in July ’09 – it’s abuse of taxpayer funds, overreaching authority, abuse of discretion, arbitrary & capricious handling of the rights of residents and violation of the fabled “Strategic Governance” of the Board (have your read that document? laughable!).
Lawsuits have a bad reputation = but the whole point of our jurisprudence system is to provide remedy when needed.
This is just such a case – have fun reading…
All docs: http://www.fcps.edu/news/swcountyschls.htm
Staff’s Initial doc: http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/FeasibilityStudyCliftonandSWFC_000.pdf
Must Reads:
Pages 15 & 18 – check out FCPS projections for Clifton enrollment – note that two of the three reasons they said they closed the school were ‘Declining Enrollment’. See: http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/Cliftonclosing710.pdf
Staff’s Final doc:
http://www.fcps.edu/news/documents/Finalstaffreport.pdf
Same as above recommendations – but a new Must Read:
FCPS ‘NEW’ enrollment projection…page 4.
Go Clifton, Go Clifton!
No need to apologize, Joel – just a friendly discussion.
I guess it takes a knee jerker to know one. My knees jerked at the request in the complaint for a permanent injunction, and I failed to closely enough read the rest of that request which appears to limit the injunction to a specific decision the board already made and not to one the board might yet make. Molly’s knees jerked [or maybe rocked] at what she thinks is the injustice that occurred. Unfortunately, history is full of injustices that our jurisprudence system allowed to continue. At NLS, Martin asserted that all the plaintiffs might be able to achieve is to have minutes of any non-open meetings published. Can anyone counter this?
Molly Corbin Rocks,
Just because the final decision that was reached after public hearings, etc, agrees with the original staff recommendation doesn’t mean that the decision was preordained or that the School Board was rubber-stamping the staff recommendation. It simply means that the staff did what they get paid to do–study the situation and make the most logical recommendation.
If anyone is wasting taxpayers money here it is the whining, self-entitled residents of Clifton who are upholding that great American litigious tradition of suing whenever you don’t get your own way.
Sure, go ahead and vote in a new school board. I’m sure that you can find some pandering, spineless politicians who will cater to the whims of a wealthy enclave at the expense of the rest of the taxpayers in Fairfax County.
His Roc (what’s in it for you to brown nose FCPS?) –
The Clifton shutdown case has done nothing but cost Fairfax County Taxpayers money (fix up what you have, not demand new, bigger, brighter – THAT is the spoiled position here).
Is it your position that no case is ever worthy of litigation? Your cowardly name calling would indicated not…
FCPS School Board is not being upfront with the taxpayers of this County and the poor parents of schoolage children are suffering at their hands the mostm though our pocketbooks will all be hit by this Board’s indulgence.
This effort has covered up MILLIONS of dollars that WE voted on in previous Bond Referendums to renovate Clifton – and other schools – that the School Board is ‘reappropriating’ to whatever their hearts desire, usurping the will of the people.
There is NO accountability for FCPS [they just wrenched ANOTHER $1.3 out of the hands of a now peeved Board of Supervisors]. Liked Herrity’s take…it is a shame the Board has been so self-important that renovations which could save us all money will be ignored to their own internal plans.
Haven’t seen this take before.
Can someone explain why the Board didn’t respond to these requests?
Seems like this would have been a perfectly good idea and solved everyone’s problem – (or maybe that’s the point).
http://www.epageflip.net/title/5407
Granny Warbucks,
Your irrational, rambling, and semi-literate tirade must contain a point somewhere, but I can’t find it. I will tell you this: most, if not all, “build new-or-renovate” economic analyses result in a build new decision when the facility is as old as Clifton Elementary. The fact that the new school might very well not be built in their neighborhood is what is driving the locals to push for a renovate option that will cost the county far more money. That is selfish elitism in my book. If you want to characterize that as cowardly name-calling, have at it. I just call it as I see it.
BTW, I have no interest in “brown-nosing” the FCPS. But I do have a vested interest in seeing my property taxes not pissed away on an uneconomical solution that serves a privileged few parents of only 300+ children in a county of more than one million people.
HisRoc,
It’s tough to grasp that such a local form of government could have such broad, unchecked authority, but that’s the case in FFX County. If you want to believe that these are a group of entitled, rich people, go right ahead. You’re dead wrong. Plaintiffs in this case have been continually wronged and have tried to work with the Board at every point. Because they neer listened to solutions or alternatives, we had no recourse, but litigation. My family is not rich, is not entitled, but reluctantly signed on to the lawsuit b/c what happened here was unconstitutional. Before you jump to conclusions, do a bit a research and you’ll be shocked by the abuse of power here. Could happen in your neighborhood next…
Cliftonparent,
I have read your complaint and have found no assertions of unconstitutional actions, just accusations of violations of administrative procedures or law. Sorry, but the Open Meetings Law is nowhere to be found in the US or Virginia Constitution.
Further, I have repeatedly asked on this blog for commenters to detail exactly what devious motivations were at work with the School Board other than the economic analysis and no one has responded other than with innocuous comments such as your’s to “do some research” or “it is well known that…”
Sorry, but I have followed the public record here and see no impropriety.
BTW, I do consider myself rather well off and entitled. But that doesn’t mean that I want to pay higher property taxes so that the town of Clifton can enjoy an uneconomical neighborhood school. Life is tough; get used to it.
It is a huge shame that the School Boards in Loudoun and Fairfax are nothing more than pawns of the school administrations in each county. Both counties need total turnover next election in these positions. Get to work recruiting good, independent minded candidates, people!
Take a look at this statement from the Strategic Governance Overview:
“Strategic Governance is a process . . . that allows the School Board to exercise its responsibilities in a manner that assures that the staff, under the authority of the Superintendent, has the freedom and authority to do its work without interference, but also that the School Board and Superintendent are fully accountable to the community for the results. The School Board accepts the challenge to perform its own duties with the same excellence expected of the Superintendent and staff members.” http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/sg/index.htm
What does that mean? “Without interference?” “But also fully accountable to the community?”
Eighteen months elapsed between the time Jack Dale was crowned and Strategic Governance was approved. I think that paternalistic, nay, non-democratic language was a pre-condition to his employment.
Cliftonparent,
P.S.
“My family is not rich, is not entitled, but reluctantly signed on to the lawsuit…”
Exactly which trailer park in Clifton with five-acre lots do you live in?
Just accusations of admin procedure or LAW? Yes, what happened here was illegal.
Are you aware that the main reason for closure was always the presumption that the well was contaminated? Are you also aware that water tests came back as excellent, but that those results were sent to Board members 12 minutes before they voted? Staff had those results for over 2 days…
Declining enrollment? Tina Hone and other Board members expressed concern publicly and privately over the historic, repeated inaccuracy of staff enrollment projections.
Topography? Citizens and experts stood in line to offer low cost solutions (see the fcps board web recording of the 6/28 hearing) None were eer responded to…and that has been the pattern for the past year. There’s so much evidence, I’m at a loss for where to direct you, but, by all means if you have questions, let me know and I’ll try to get you answers.
What Jack Dale wants, Jack Dale gets, including closing Clifton school. In the end it was not contaminated well water,or a proposal to build a new expensive school on asbestos soil, or low enrollments, but scratching the bottom….the Clifton site had a big elevation. Gibson said it best….”It is no secret the renovation money can be used to renovate West Springfield High School.” Something is very wrong with this picture. Didn’t Clifton receive renovation funds for planning in the 2005 Bond Referendum? Show me the money would be a good phrase to follow…….
His Roc,
You do realize don’t you that not all homes in Clifton sit on 5-acre lots? My lot for example is less than an acre, and no, I don’t live in the Town of Clifton. Nor do I live in a McMansion. Nor do my neighbors, who also have lots of approximately 1-acre.
Maybe Cliftonparent lives in one of the two zip codes that the FCPS staff forgot to include in their projected enrollment? I don’t believe all the homes in 22030 all sit on 5-acre lots.
The fact is that nobody likes having to spend tax dollars on a lawsuit, but when your only recourse when the system has run amok is to fight it in court, then that’s what makes this country great! I don’t honestly believe any of the plaintiffs waited anxiously for the SB to vote to close CES so they could sue them. But I do think they are doing what is within their right, and duty! As taxpayers, it is our duty to hold our elected officials accountable.
The SB made a mistake, and now they are going to be held accountable.
Cliftonparent,
You still have not articulated what the School Board did that was “unconstitutional.” You apparently think that any violation of administrative or civil law is “unconstitutional.”
saveces,
If you are right, then the plaintiffs will prevail. But I doubt that they will.
No, I don’t think this is a matter of technicality. Due process, due process, due process was violated time and again AND a little something called the Americans with Disabilities Act.
I’m sure lots of Continental soldiers didn’t think the revolution was winnable, but since when does “winnable” have anything to do with fighting for the rights? Parents and students have standing.
HisRoc:
Your mother would not be proud.
That aside, not the brightest tool in the shed either.
Open Meetings Act is VA Code, dear boy.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+2.2-3707
Cliftonparent,
By your definition, if a grocery store bagger gives you paper when you ask for plastic, then he has violated your 14th Amendment rights to due process.
Oh, grow up!
Granny Warbucks,
And I am sure that your mother would be distressed to know that she raised such a stupid child. Did you ride the little bus to school?
An act of the legislature that becomes part of the Virginia Code, dear girl, does not amend the Constitution. That is a totally different matter.
HisRoc,
Some have a contract with the VA Department of Education and the FCPS Board violated it. Period.
If you’re too busy insulting others to look into it, that’s you’re choice, but don’t trivialize this. Sounds like you’re the one who lacks maturity…and any knowledge on this issue.
Cliftonparent,
I would never trivialize anything that will raise potentially raise my property taxes, nor anything that would improve the quality of our county schools. I have looked at this issue in depth, read the public record, and all I see is a bunch of Clifton people wanting the entire county to subsidize their little neighborhood school.
If that characterization is insulting, then so be it.
HisRoc:
Much rhetoric is flying and unfortunately a signficant amount of insinuations. The time has come for facts – your posts on (multiple) boards include observations on renovation, construction, jobs, taxes, public policy, law and more.
In setting the record straight, I personally advocated and lobbied for renovation for the school in concert with securing the direct written support directed to the Fairfax County School Board by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources and Preservation Virginia. Ms. Bradsher has accused elected officials in writing of using the renovation approach as some sort of political tactic. Stu Gibson said in writing the preservation route was ‘grasping at straws’. Dean Tistadt said in the June 29th Work Session that it ‘costs more money to renovate if we accept federal grants’ (?).
Please note your stated position:
“I will tell you this: most, if not all, “build new-or-renovate” economic analyses result in a build new decision when the facility is as old as Clifton Elementary.”
Kindly note what the preeminent subject matter experts have to say:
“Now, as never before, preservation in Virginia is a dynamic process involving many stakeholders determining what we esteem from our past and desire to pass forward…As we contemplate a sustainable approach to planning, it makes good sense to consider that preservation is by its very nature fiscally and environmentally responsible.”
“Stewardship is also hampered by the perception that preservation is a more expensive or cumbersome alternative, which is simply untrue…at a time when funds for new construction are limited, the preservation of existing solidly built structures is not only environmentally sensitive, but also financially prudent.”
Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, Director
Department of Historic Resources
“Many people involved in making school facility decisions have little, if any, experience with the rehabilitation of older buildings. They simply cannot visualize how an older building that is structurally sound could be renovated to meet 21st-century life safety, accessibility, and educational program standards.”
National Trust for Historic Preservation
http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/historic-schools/
“Preservation is the ultimate recycling. Preservation by its nature is sustainability…The greenest building is the one that is already standing. Unlike many of their more recent counterparts, many historic and older buildings were built to last. Their durability gives them their renewability.” Richard Moe, President Emeritus, National Trust for Historic Preservation
“By properly maintaining and making more efficient use of existing infrastructure, Virginia can save money and conserve resources.”
Former Governor Timothy M. Kaine
upon receipt of Department of Historic Resources Bi-ennial Report on Stewardship of State-Owned Historic Properties
“Preservation Pays”
That is the conclusion of an economic study, “Prosperity through Preservation,” that was conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Public Policy, in partnership with DHR.
http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/Prosperity%20through%20Preservation.pdf
In the end, Mr. HisRoc, the facts simply do not support your or the School Board’s. Renovation creates jobs, revitalizes communities, creates economic opportunities for the taxpayers under federal grants available as a result of the National Historic Preservation Act (1966), infuses taxes into the local economy [new construction = nails and wood, which do not pay taxes], and sustainability is environmentally more responsible – a Major Objective under the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan for the Pohick Planning District, which supplies the protection of the Occoquan Watershed and subsequent drinking water for the entire County.
The myth v. reality is that the School Board’s push for new construction at Liberty or land acquisition and construction elsewhere is simply not less expensive than renovation. I am not saying it – every subject matter expert of record is, however.
And, it was not a politician’s ploy or angle to use historic preservation – it is good stewardship of the Old Domion. I brought this issue to Congressman Connolly, Senator Barker, Delegate Hugo, Supervisor Bulova, Supervisor Herrity, U.S. Congressional Candidate Keith Fimian and many others. Not the other way around. Fairfax County taxpayers deserve better, deserve the truth. It is time for the myths to stop.
Elizabeth L. Schultz
Clifton Elementary resident and parent
James Madison University
B.S. History
B.S. Political Science
Gosh, Ms. Schultz, I never thought of it that way. By your way of reasoning it was a huge mistake for the Federal government to bail out GM and Chrysler. They should have let those companies go under and spent the money instead on repairing older cars. In another ten years or so, our automotive fleets would have looked like the cars in Cuba, but think of all the economic activity it would have generated in shade-tree garages.
Listen, lady. We are not talking about Mount Vernon here. We are talking about a red brick block house built in a Stalinist architectural style. It is ugly, it is not functional in any modern sense, and it will cost millions more to renovate and maintain than to replace.
Question: would you and any other of the CES parents have a problem if the FCSB had decided to demolish CES and build a new school on the same site? I sincerely doubt it. This entire preservation issue is a canard to keep your under-enrolled school in the neighborhood and not have your children going to school with children from “those families not like us.”
Sorry, but I won’t subsidize your ‘private’ school with my taxes. You want to keep your kids in school with “the right kind of people,” then suck it up and send them to private schools.
HisRoc
B.A. History
B.A. Political Science
M.S. Management Science
Ph.D BS Detection
HisRoc,
Check out the required reading for the Board’s recent retreat (723-24.) “All Systems Go, the Change Imperative for Whole System REform” by Michael Fullan. If they, not Clifton parents, have their way, I think you’re right to expect an impending tax hike.
Cliftonparent,
Maybe. Does that justify adding the expense of renovating CES versus building new? And how does spending more money to renovate CES benefit the “whole system?”
Stupid argument, but please don’t take that as an insult.
Aha – and there we have it.
“You want to keep your kids in school with “the right kind of people,” then suck it up and send them to private schools.”
And you – with the platitudes that you weren’t calling them racists?
http://notlarrysabato.typepad.com/doh/2010/08/fairfax-taxpayers-sue-school-board.html?cid=6a00d83451b13369e2013486131cec970c#comment-6a00d83451b13369e2013486131cec970c
A fix to the well would be a one time cost of about $5,000, maybe $10,000. An updated sprinkler would cost what? That’s all that’s needed on site. Most at Clifton don’t want the county to spend on “gold standard” renovation. The fact is the money was already allocated and some want the money for their own “pet projects.”
Really, read that book. This is bigger than Clifton. You’ll see…
HisRoc:
At no time did I discuss Federal bailouts of car manucturers or the type of people with whom we want our children to attend school. The School Board’s decision has left over 10% of Fairfax County’s total geography without a single public school.
Had preservationists not been active over – er, history – we would not have Mt. Vernon. Just as all politics is local, so must be the effort to preserve heritage. Wayne Nickum and fellow Cliftonites in the early 1980s set the path that placed the Town of Clifton on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. Is Clifton ‘Williamsburg’ or ‘Gettysburg’? No. But the U.S. Department of Interior does not classify ‘worthiness’ of designation that way, so I would respectfully suggest neither should anyone else.
You may not be aware of the details, but in 1716 Lord Fairfax deeded 1,000 acres in a land grant to the Kincheloe family, who is largely responsible for settling this whole area of the County. Portions of those original land grants still are held by direct descendents of the family. Oh, and by marriage, Ms. Virginia Ritenour was a Kincheloe…and the first principal of Clifton High School – the first high school in the history of Fairfax County – and the first principal of Clifton Elementary.
When is ‘history’ significant enough to matter? I think it matters to Paradise Springs Winery – and Kirk Wyles. His winery in Clifton is on acreage of Lord Fairfax’s land grant to his ancestors…and his great-grandmother certainly contributed signficantly to the history of Fairfax County.
We all benefit as well. If renovation pays, and all experts document it for you – and you are truly altruistic in your concern for your own and your neighbors’ tax bills, then we will gladly accept your support; it has been our mission all along to subscribe to that which the professional experts proscribe – preservation is fiscally prudent.
Excuse my ‘cross-posting’ (didn’t even know the term) – I am certainly no professional blogger and do not know how to do otherwise.
“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
‘A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.’
Robert Frost
Let the games begin…
Not so much ‘IF’ it has merit, just ‘which’ violation they are going after – a read says this is a good bet:
§ 2.2-3707, Code of Virginia, the Open Meetings Act Purpose provides,
“By enacting this chapter, the General Assembly ensures the people of the Commonwealth ready access to public records in the custody of a public body or its officers and employees, and free entry to meetings of public bodies wherein the business of the people is being conducted. The affairs of government are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government. Unless a public body or its officers or employees specifically elect to exercise an exemption provided by this chapter or any other statute, every meeting shall be open to the public and all public records shall be available for inspection and copying upon request. All public records and meetings shall be presumed open, unless an exemption is properly invoked. The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to promote an increased awareness by all persons of governmental activities and afford every opportunity to citizens to witness the operations of government. Any exemption from public access to records or meetings shall be narrowly construed and no record shall be withheld or meeting closed to the public unless specifically made exempt pursuant to this chapter or other specific provision of law. This chapter shall not be construed to discourage the free discussion by government officials or employees of public matters with the citizens of the Commonwealth.” [1]
§ 2.2-3707. Meetings to be public; notice of meetings; recordings; minutes.
A. All meetings of public bodies shall be open, except as provided in §§ 2.2-3707.01 and 2.2-3711.
B. No meeting shall be conducted through telephonic, video, electronic or other communication means where the members are not physically assembled to discuss or transact public business, except as provided in § 2.2-3708, 2.2-3708.1 or as may be specifically provided in Title 54.1 for the summary suspension of professional licenses.
C. Every public body shall give notice of the date, time, and location of its meetings by placing the notice in a prominent public location at which notices are regularly posted and in the office of the clerk of the public body, or in the case of a public body that has no clerk, in the office of the chief administrator. All state public bodies subject to the provisions of this chapter shall also post notice of their meetings on their websites and on the electronic calendar maintained by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency commonly known as the Commonwealth Calendar. Publication of meeting notices by electronic means by other public bodies shall be encouraged.The notice shall be posted at least three working days prior to the meeting. Notices for meetings of state public bodies on which there is at least one member appointed by the Governor shall state whether or not public comment will be received at the meeting and, if so, the approximate point during the meeting when public comment will be received.
[I]t is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Samuel Cooper, May 1, 1777
“You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor”
-Walter Bagehot
Three completely different groups (from different areas in Fairfax)have filed three seperate lawsuits during the last couple of years of this School Board’s tenure. Obviously something is wrong.
Yes, CliftonMom, something is very wrong. And what is wrong is that parents can file groundless and frivolous lawsuits any time they don’t like the decisions of a democratically elected school board. The last time the board was sued was over the high school boundary changes to relieve over-crowding at several schools and transfer students to under-utilized, but newer, South Lakes High. The lawsuit was summarily dismissed without granting the judicial review that the plaintiffs requested. Not surprisingly, the language of the complaint was almost identical to that in the CES suit. Look it up: JOE PASCALE, et al vs. FCSB.
The CES lawsuit is headed for the same resolution, no matter how many Patton Boggs suits the deep-pocketed parents of Clifton throw at the court. That is how democracy works, not letting a small group of angry parents hijack the decision authority of an elected body.
Still confused as to how our mixed-race, offspring of a nurse, secretary and police officer family got to be elitist snobs that live in a gigantic house in Clifton. Last time I looked at the Fairfax County statistics we, as a county and not just Clifton, are a bit less than 70% white, with medium household incomes of $107K (54% of the county population), approx. 91% with high school diplomas, 59% with college degrees. Somehow I don’t think all these people reside in Clifton. Hmm..some of us spent the little extra money on a bit of land that is protected under the Occoquan Watershed (so everyone has good water now and in future generations). Oh, there are many of us that have parts of our properties on gas line and power line easements. We cannot do anything with this property but pay taxes on it anyway. This allows all of our county residents to have public utilities. HisRoc, this is America. If you feel wronged, what would you do!
What hate? Why is it hateful to disagree with a small group of disgruntled people who want to enforce a minority position on schools, thereby raising everyone’s taxes?
Yes, this is America and a democracy. Elections have consequences. If you don’t agree with the decisions your elected representatives are making, then vote for their opponent at the next election. But, don’t try to subvert the democratic process with frivolous and baseless lawsuits.
I wonder how many of the Clifton parents protesting this closing even voted in the last election for school board members? A fraction of them, I suspect. Typical self-indulgent American middle class. Can’t be bothered to get involved in your government until a single issue gets you all energized. Then, you want instant gratification for your “grievance” instead of working within the democratic process.
It is not hate that I feel for you, just sadness and contempt.
His Roc seems to have some weird personal prejudices going on about Clifton.
First of all, there was another lawsuit too – Senator Chap Peterson filed it and it had nothing to do with the South Lakes redistricting. Also, Clifton historically has the highest voter turnout in the entire Springfield District. Out of all the precincts in Clifton, Liz Bradsher received the highest number of votes FROM CLIFTON based on her COMMUNITY SCHOOLS platform. Then she turned around and decided to close their community school without solid facts (ever changing enrollment PROJECTIONS).
HisRoc,
The democratic process includes the right of citizens to have grievances addressed in a cout of law. How does keeping Clifton open raise your property taxes? And, you claim Clifton parents are self-interested? Mmmhmm…
Descended from the House of Hanover, are you?
Cliftonparent,
Quite frankly, I am bored with you self-centered NIMBY-ists. You cannot acknowledge the validity of any logic that flies in the face of what your little hearts desire.
Look, read the cost-benefit analysis. Building new somewhere else will cost the FCPS less Total Cost of Ownership than renovating CES. And quit with all that BS about not renovating CES and with preservation. You can’t have it both ways. Whatever the county does to keep CES open will increase the school budget. That will increase my property taxes. Got it now, bunky?
Now, I am through wasting my time with all of you. You argue that you are not wealthy elites but are blue collar working class families barely getting by, but someone is paying Patton Boggs huge bucks, not to mention the expensive and sophisticated media campaign that you have mounted. You argue that Liz promised “community schools,” but refuse to accept the facts when it comes to maintaining CES with dwindling enrollment. And somehow a group of small, working class families have managed to attract the attention of national preservation activists for the case of an ugly, red brick block building.
My BS detector has been buzzing like crazy and I had it set on minimum sensitivity. Your lawsuit will go nowhere and your 214 registered voters in the town of Clifton will not turn over the FCSB. Give it up. You are pathetic.
Good-bye.
His Roc, of course your position depends on trusting the cost benefit analysis done by the school system. Here in Loudoun we have been lied to and misled consistently by an unethical school board and administration. I wouldn’t trust anything coming out of FCPS either.
His Roc,
I have no desire to get into a useless argument with you, but you’re wrong. In your last post, you point out that “Your lawsuit will go nowhere and your 214 registered voters in the town of Clifton will not turn over the FCSB.”
Like many others in Fairfax County, you seem to be under the misconception that “Clifton” encompasses JUST the Town of Clifton. Not so. “Clifton” (and the CES attendance area)is comprised of approx. 2200 homes, and covers an area of approx. 40 square miles. The Town only contains about 1/4 square mile in that entire area. So to say that Clifton doesn’t have the voting power to over-turn the current SB, is a mistake.
In your previous post you also state:
“You argue that you are not wealthy elites but are blue collar working class families barely getting by, but someone is paying Patton Boggs huge bucks, not to mention the expensive and sophisticated media campaign that you have mounted.”
I have to say, this made me LOL! Your assuming that Patton Boggs is representing the plaintiffs for ‘huge bucks’. I don’t know what the agreement is, but I never assume anything.
‘expensive and sophisticated media campaign’ Seriously, you think it’s expensive and sophisticated?? I guess for a bunch of working parents trying to fight this injustice in our spare time, we’re not doing too bad! As for expensive – if you consider $20 a month hosting fees for a website expensive, okay. As for sophisticated – hmmm, I think you’re giving us far too much credit, but I’ll take it as a compliment.
Clearly I’m being sarcastic, but before you make assumptions about anyone in Clifton, you should really get your facts straight.
I do have to say one last thing, your willingness to blindly trust what your elected officials are spewing, is truly sad. Instead of blindly believing everything they tell you, you might want to investigate the truth for yourself before you fall in line.
His Roc “My BS detector has been buzzing like crazy and I had it set on minimum sensitivity. Your lawsuit will go nowhere and your 214 registered voters in the town of Clifton will not turn over the FCSB. Give it up. You are pathetic.
Good-bye.”
This is the standard model followed by left-wing liberals. Sling accusations of racism, classicism and elitism, slur those seeking justice and then run away when their boorish comments are no longer effective.
The Virginia farmers once again are picking up their pitchforks and throwing off the oppressors. The pursuit of liberty in a free republic continues. Focus on individual liberty and pursuit of happiness (wanting your children to go to school generally where you live is elitist?)…were the founding fathers ‘self-centered’?
Rather assumptive for you to posit on merits of suit v. another suit – the relevance is…? Other than the non-coincidence of the same SB being sued for a THIRD time, there is no relevance.
You are privy to the particulars of the financial burden of the legal team to the parents how? Can’t wait for you to leak that info!
What is historic to you – anything? Say, let’s just build a bunch of condos throughout Clifton, stick in a few more strip malls and have population density through the roof and boggle up traffic a little more. Like clean water much?
No data out of FCPS has held so far – they dropped their guess (what’d they use, a dartboard?!) CES’ enrollment data 25% in under a year. Why on earth would it follow their building estimates will hold? They overinflate everything then scurry off with bond referendum money for pet projects because it’s “leftover” – NOT! If you saved money, you don’t spend what was authorize – you save the taxpayers $ – not go ahead and spend the damn leftovers!
Suit will go nowhere? Do tell, did you consult your 1-900-PSY-CHIC for that revelation?
More like 1-900-PSY-CHOS…
The more I read the rantings {and these truly are rantings} of HisRoc, the more I believe this is one well-established megalomaniac on the school board. Looks like he is dispersing his Marxism throughout the County – level everything out – socially engineer the school system – no pullout programs for GT (or whatever the new politically correct phrase of the day is for gifted and talented students) so they stay in class to average out test scores – and so on.
Socialism does not work, but he is going to die trying to spread its’ mistruth.
Guys, HisRoc is a conservative. More conservative than I am, often. He just disagrees on this issue. It’s not ideological.
Brian,
Thanks, but I have been called much worse than a liberal, socialist, or Marxist–usually by liberals, socialists, and Marxists.
Okay, lets turn down the heat and be conciliatory. Suppose that Patton Boggs is doing this case pro bono. Suppose that all the plaintiffs and other aggrieved parents are just working middle class folks of modest means. Suppose that Friends of Community Schools is right, that the FCPS staff cooked the books and that the FCSB bought it and lied to the good people of Clifton.
If you read the case law of previous parent lawsuits against anybody’s school board in Virginia, not just the FCSB, I doubt if you will find a single case in which the school board was enjoined and subjected to judicial review. I have looked at the last three cases against the FCSB and that was certainly the resolution in our county.
So, what are you going to do when and if this suit is summarily dismissed? Someone posted that there are 2,200 households in the CES district. Suppose each one has two registered voters for a total of 4,400. That is a whopping 1.6% of the voter population of Fairfax County. The geographical footprint of CES might be 10% of Fairfax County, but trees don’t vote.
Well, I guess that I can understand the anger and sarcasm directed towards my “rantings.” I would be angry, too, if I was in such a hopeless situation.
This blog is so awesome and so necessary. The host graciously accepts my apology. The host bravely defends a pretty aggressive commenter with whom he disagrees on this issue. For my part, I go to Blue Virginia when I need to bolster my liberal instincts, although I’ve recently banned myself from commenting, because some of the folks Lowell joined forces with to allow him to have a life crossed the line from encouraging discourse to censorship based on squishy definitions of what’s appropriate. Apparently, that won’t happen here. I’ll always rank NLS #1, but as anyone knows it’s not for the faint of heart, because Ben’s attitude seems to be anything goes. In fact, on this particular subject, it’s precisely because of Ben’s radical hatred for the one he calls the SCB that I discovered this blog. God bless Ben and God bless Brian!
Thanks, Joel. I appreciate the vote of confidence and am glad you’re enjoying the site.
I got banned from Blue Virginia, so I can feel your pain there.
Joel,
I got banned at least three times on Lowell Feld’s Raising Kaine. Once for trying to rein in their outrageous assertions about war-profiteering being the sole reason for the Global War On Terrorism, again for picking a fight with that semi-literate twit Miles Grant, and finally for questioning Lowell’s financial connections to politicians that he was promoting.
The interesting aspect of being banned by Lowell is that there is no notice or explanation. You don’t know that you have been banned until you can’t log in and all your previous comments have been purged. It is kind of like the old Communist Stalinist process where dissentents were banished to internal exile and became non-persons.
I came across a bunch of perhaps well meaning, but ignorant, rhetoric on the Clifton Elementary law suit.
OK, so HisRoc says, “Look, read the cost-benefit analysis. Building new somewhere else will cost the FCPS less Total Cost of Ownership than renovating CES… Whatever the county does to keep CES open will increase the school budget. That will increase my property taxes. Got it now, bunky?”
First off, with the overall student population in the country growing, the marginal school capacity is satisfied by new construction — whether that capacity is needed due to more people moving in or by shutting down of existing capacity — like CES. No question on that one.
Second, to renovate existing space is LESS expensive than to build new space (foundation,support walls… are already in place). Per FCPS Staff, that delta is $19 per square foot. (See table on page 17 of the Staff’s CES report dated May 3 that is on the FCPS website).
So, on that ocunt,to renovate the 47,483 square feet of CES space instead of removing that capacity from the system ultimately saves $883k.
Further, FCPS Staff indicate that it will cost $1M to demolish the CES building if it is not renovated.
Now we are up to $1.883M saved by renovating CES.
However, there are two issues that add costs to the CES renovation relative to typical new construction: (a) $525k to excavate a hill and build a retaining wall due to the unusually hilly setting, and (b) $400k for a storage tank for water to feed a fire suppression sprinkler system (because CES is on wells.) Again, see page 17 of the pertinent Staff report.
So, Mr./Ms. HisRoc, to renovate CES would net save you and me nearly $1M as taxpayers. Got it now, bunky?
I think everyone who’s looked at the situation objectively acknowledges that it’s difficult to prevail in a lawsuit against a Virginia school board; the state laws make a successful challenge quite difficult.
But that doesn’t make it impossible, and prior defeats don’t make another defeat inevitable.
Intuitively, the strongest case for the plaintiffs seems to be that FCPS indicated throughout the process that it was considering two options: (1) renovating CES or (2) closing CES and building another school on the Liberty MS site. However, it ultimately decided on something different: closing CES without committing to building any new schools, much less one on the Liberty site.
If this were a federal matter, and FCPS were a federal agency that had announced such a decision following a process that purportedly was intended to allow those affected by the decision to weigh in before the decision was made, there’s little question but that the decision would be overturned and sent back to the agency for further deliberations. Those versed in Virginia law will know better whether a similar argument stands a chance of prevailing in state court, but at a minimum it shows that the lawsuit isn’t frivolous.
Like others, I don’t understand why it’s considered undemocratic for citizens to resort to the courts (which are certainly one part of the government) when aggrieved by the decisions of an elected body that seems to have lost its bearings. If that’s what the other poster believes, I assume he thinks our AG is off on a frolic and detour as he considers different ways to challenge recent legislation by the Congress.
And, if at the end of the day, the lawsuit is nothing more than a nuisance for FCPS, that’s OK by me, too. FCPS clearly is going to inconvenience Clifton parents in a big way and they should have done a much better job of arriving at, and explaining, their decision before doing so. If the lawsuit makes FCPS think twice next time, so much the better.
Hey all:
First of all – kudos to HisRoc for engaging in a more civil discours – not looking for bans or the like, but at least he has entered a realm of reasonable communication on this subject, which grows more interesting by the day.
With regard to ‘trees don’t vote’ – no, but there remains inequity in provision of services to the educational needs and community use needs to the County when there is a removal of ANY public school to over 10% of the County, regardless of its population. The Superintendent’s administration of the school system requires equity of services.
Secondly, the Clifton issue comes at a critical time, as FCPS is about to embark on an extensive boundary redistricting throughout the ENTIRE southwest portion of the County. Residents, taxpayers, homeowners and parents of this encompassing geographic area – don’t know the geographic percentage of the study, but it has to be huge – should pay very close attention. The methods of community engagement are going to be changed – AGAIN (hmmmm, arbitrarily & capriciously?) – to limit community input from the process they instituted with Clifton.
The facts in the Clifton case are discrete (unique, not identical, to other cases), so let’s not prejudge the merits of this case based on specifics of a previous unsuccessful case.
In any event, guessing the PR department at FCPS is going to go into triple overtime…wonder what that means in taxpayer dollar expenditures? Money better spent on renovating schools than dolling up perceptions of FCPS, surely. Lipstick on a pig…
Thank you, MollyCorbin,
Now then, to address PTaxPayer’s analysis, he is ignoring a factor known in Facilities Management as Total Cost of Ownership or Lifecycle Cost. A renovated facility as old as CES will typically provide an additional 10 years of useful service before another renovation is required. A new facility has a life expectancy of 50 years, 25 before a major renovation is required. Also, build new allows for modernization of utilities, etc, to an extent that is not possible with renovation. Therefore, you cannot compare build new versus renovate head-to-head. You have to take the cost of each option and divide it by the number of expected useful years. When you do that math, you don’t save $1M; renovate is far more expensive.
HisRoc – Assuming your analysis is correct, why has FCPS been renovating old high schools that, like CES, were also built in the 1950s (such as Lee, Madison and Stuart), rather than replacing them with new facilities?
AdminGuy,
I have no idea, but aren’t you glad now that they have stopped wasting your money?
BTW, I have asked this question repeatedly here and over at NLS: exactly what are the nefarious motives at work at FCPS that is driving them to screw over Clifton? People keep alluding to some sinister, hidden motives, but one has actually come out and explained them.
HisRoc, I’ve heard two things – first, they want to turn the school into an administration building. Second, they want to bolster the passing percentage of some of the surrounding schools who have lower test scores by spreading out kids who have top test scores to those schools.
I can’t speak to the veracity of either of those claims, but they’re what I’ve heard.
Brian,
The first one makes no sense to me at all. Why would the staff want a 57 year-old admin building in Clifton with contaminated well water and possible asbestos issues. Yeah, that’s exactly what I would want for my new office digs, not!
However, the second one is very plausible. That is precisely the kind of reasoning that could be behind this, but I think that it gives the staff too much credit for being smart and cunning.
Then, there is a third possibility: that the staff wants to invest in a new facility that is more centrally located to the projected future population. It could be.
Or they could just want a newer school with more amenities for the staff. I don’t know. What I do know is that whatever the reason is, we have yet to hear it from the FCPS. The reasons they have given have all been refuted and they haven’t changed their tune.
Brian – I doubt that it’s very helpful to the Clifton cause to re-circulate the idea that a primary motive behind the decision to close the school is the desire to shore up the schools that “surround” Clifton ES. Clifton ES is “surrounded” by other very high performing schools such as Union Mill or Sangster. The theory only holds up if you view the closing of Clifton as part of a much larger plan to redistrict schools in the SW part of the county (where students from, say, the schools that currently “surround” Clifton ES are redistricted to yet other schools with lower scores).
It seems to me that, while perhaps less exciting to those who want to call every bone-headed decision “liberal social engineering” run amok, the decision to close Clifton may just be an example of a lousy, ill-conceived bureaucratic decision-making process, where a body thinks that it’s ultimately entitled to make any decision to see fit because it has a lot of power and a lot of reports have been generated in the process (even if the reports aren’t consistent with one another, or well-reasoned, or even fully understood by those who commissioned them). Tina Hone wrote a brilliant letter to the Washington Post recently contrasting the current process at FCPS with the process that one might hope to see the School Board embrace one day.
AdminGuy,
Can you post Tina Hone’s letter or a link to it? I missed it and would like to read it.
Thanks.
Letter from Tina Hone:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2010/08/school_boards_need_to_hear_all.html
HisRoc; Did you play Matt Dillon in a previous life? You seem to shoot from the hip, at least on this issue.
In trying to describe the well known concept of Lifecycle Cost, you claim that “A renovated facility as old as CES will typically provide an additional 10 years of useful service before another renovation is required. A new facility has a life expectancy of 50 years, 25 before a major renovation is required. Also, build new allows for modernization of utilities, etc, to an extent that is not possible with renovation.”
OK, now let’s not shoot from the hip, but examine some facts. Go to just one page (number 12) in the Fairfax County Public Schools most recent CIP (Capital Improvement Program) document. It shows eight schools set for renovation, mostly in 2010. with original construction ranging from 1921 to 1962. (CES construction = 1952) Time to 1st cited renovation ranges from 18 – 63 years (discard the 63 since it was likely not the 1st renovation for Vienna ES) with a mean of 23 years. You get a gold star for your guess of 25 years!
However, you fail on your claim that a school like CES would need another renovation in 10 years. In fact, the average years to the 2nd (or later) renovation for these schools is not the 10 years that you cite, but an average of 32 years. And read the CIP, you will see that that is not unrepresentative for FCPS. Why is that?
Well, your other claim about not being able to adequately upgrade the utilities in a renovation is also without proper basis. Per the CIP on the very same page, “A renovation provides the school with entirely new ventilation, sprinkler, and electrical systems.”
So, sorry, HisRoc, your arguments, at least in this case, are incorrect.
When you consider genuine facts, the renovation of CES is LESS expensive than the replacement new construction that will inevitably be required to replace its capacity if, indeed, it were to be closed — by $1M in absolute terms, and still so on a time averaged basis when applying the LifeCycle Cost approach.
Unfortuntely, you are not the only one who does not seem to have all the facts straight on this siutation — neither do FCPS Staff. They are the ones who steered the FCPS Board into an arbitrary and capricious action in voting to close CES.
You have every right to express your opinions, whether properly supported or not — because, indeed, you are just offering opinions. But no actions are taken on them.
When FCPS Staff offer improperly supported recommendations, that is a very different kettle of fish.
Thanks for engaging in dialogue on this, HisRoc.
AdminGuy, I’m not repeating those charges as if they are true – I simply responded to HisRoc’s request for information. While I think it’s plausible this was done to bolster test scores, I find it highly doubtful, for the reason HisRoc noted.
I agree with you that the most likely answer is simply that the staff made the decision and then decided to come up with a way to justify it. Like I said, whatever the actual reason is, I believe we have yet to hear it.
Thanks for the link to the Hone letter. I should have pulled that myself.
Adding to the nice stats from PTaxPayer…Clifton Elementary was renovated in 1983 with 24,000 sq.ft. of space added for classrooms and such. That was 27 years ago. For some reason, there is hardly any mention of this renovation, only that the school was built in 1952. It is not a dilapidated old building or I wouldn’t allow my child to step foot in there. The well water is proven safe, too.
PTaxPayer – Thanks for that response. It seemed intuitively clear without even checking the CIP that HisRoc’s argument was open to question.
Certainly there have been situations where FCPS did decide to build a tear down an old school and build a new one – Glasgow MS is the example that immediately comes to mind. But it’s not clear to me what exactly drives the decision to renovate vs. build new. In Glasgow MS’s case, it serves a very diverse student population, and I wouldn’t be surprised if FCPS was prepared to spend extra money to demonstrate its commitment to serving those students (and also as a lure to keep the affluent families from Lake Barcroft, etc. in the Stuart pyramid).
it’s all about socio-economic balancing. The SB wants to cram as many kids as they can into a school to even out SOLs. They want to close Clifton and spread the wealth of those scores to underperforming schools. Watch and see – it will become very evident when they get to the SW boundary study. Pre-determined outcome shoved down parents’ throats. Typical sheep of FC will take it in stride. Nothing will change until the SB gets voted out, which I guarantee you, they will. They have just screwed too many parents on too many issues.
FP, I agree, and I’m looking forward to campaign season starting. I hope that the Clifton parents and other frustrated folks in Fairfax can field a solid group of replacement Board members who recognize they don’t represent the school system, the represent their constituents.