Fairfax School Board Members Vote in Unlawful Secret Meeting to Benefit Themselves
The Fairfax County School Board never ceases to amaze. A body that’s supposed to be transparent is anything but. A vivid example occurred earlier this year when the Board held a secret session to authorize expenditures that personally benefitted its members and that would have been very controversial if known to the public.
A May 9 article by Asra Nomani in the Fairfax County Times revealed that the Board had met in a closed session to authorize each member to add to his or her staff by hiring a “staff director” with a salary of $121,500. In the same meeting, the Board reportedly voted to renovate and expand the Board’s office space at the school system’s headquarters. The new staff positions were for administrative roles that do not require a college degree or any specialized experience, and yet the authorized salaries exceed those of most teachers in the Fairfax County public school system (FCPS). The vote came at a time when FCPS was facing difficult budget decisions, which included eliminating some programs and reducing bargained-for pay increases for teachers. The new positions and the high salaries would almost certainly have been questioned if they were open to public scrutiny. The Board avoided this by this by failing to disclose its plans and by meeting in secret to authorize the expenditures.
Fairfax Schools Monitor was struck by the report that the Board had conducted this closed session. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires almost all meetings of government bodies to be open to the public. None of the narrow exceptions to this requirement could possibly apply to a School Board meeting to authorize new staff positions or to renovate office space. Thus, if the news report was accurate, the School Board violated the law. Fairfax Schools Monitor therefore decided to investigate exactly what had occurred and why.
The effort has been met with stonewalling by FCPS. The school system — caught in a clear-cut violation of Virginia law by conducting an improper secret meeting — is doubling down by refusing to comply with a lawful request for disclosure of relevant documents, thereby forcing the public to initiate litigation to get to the bottom of the matter.
The facts are summarized in an article that’s just been published in the Fairfax County Times. The article is reprinted here:
Fairfax School Board Benefits Itself in Unlawful Secret Meeting, Fairfax County Times, June 20, 2025, by Mark Spooner
A May 9 article in this paper by Asra Nomani revealed that the Fairfax County School Board had voted in a closed meeting earlier this year to create a new “staff director” position for each Board member at salaries of $121,535, and to renovate the Board’s space at the school system’s headquarters.
I was skeptical about the article in one respect: Was the matter really considered at a meeting closed to the public? Virginia law requires almost all sessions of public bodies to be open. Although there are narrow exceptions, such as for meetings to discuss discipline of an employee or student, there is no arguable justification for holding a secret meeting to consider spending taxpayer dollars for the public body’s benefit. School Board members are well aware of this. Whenever they conduct a non-public session, they are required to certify that the only matters discussed were ones the law authorizes to be closed.
So, to investigate further, I sent an email to my Braddock School Board representative and to the three at-large members, asking two simple questions: Did the Board approve new hirings, and, if so, was this done in an open meeting? When no response came within ten days, I sent “can you please respond” follow-ups. Three Board members again ignored the inquiry, and the office of Kyle McDaniel merely said: “Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on personnel matters at FCPS.”
On May 15 I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to this issue, including records reflecting the date(s) when the School Board discussed the staff-director issue; agendas for the meeting(s); the rationale for the proposed hirings and the salary levels; meeting minutes and/or summaries; and how the Board members voted.
The FCPS FOIA office responded on June 3. It confirmed that the issues were considered at a non-public meeting on February 25, but it refused to provide any of the requested documents other than a vague agenda that didn’t reveal an intent to consider the funding issues. I was told that all other documents were protected by “attorney-client” privilege or were being withheld because they were prepared for a “closed meeting, as permitted by §3505.1(5) of FOIA.
In a subsequent phone call with an FCPS attorney, I pointed out that most of the requested documents couldn’t possibly be privileged. The attorney-client privilege applies only to legal advice; it doesn’t apply to records reflecting the administrative or fiscal rationale for proposed expenditures, meeting minutes, etc.
With respect to the “closed meeting” exemption, I reminded the FCPS attorney that the statute only permits records to be withheld if they were “recorded in or compiled exclusively for use in closed meetings lawfully held pursuant to §2.2-3711.” Section 3711 lists what can be lawfully discussed in closed meetings. The list does not permit secret meetings for funding new staff positions or for renovation of office space.
The FCPS lawyer was unable to tell me during our phone call which provision of §3711 FCPS was relying on to justify its closed meeting, and I haven’t received an answer since then. The only conceivable exemption is one that permits closed meetings for “interviews of prospective candidates for employment; assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific … employees” and other evaluations that “will necessarily involve discussion of the performance of specific individuals.” Nothing fitting this exception was involved in the Board’s authorization of new staff positions or the decision to renovate the Board’s office space.
This leads to the key question: Given that the February 25 closed meeting violated the law, why did the Board decide to hold it? This hasn’t been answered. But the explanation may well be intertwined with the difficult budget issues that were pending at the time. The Board needed to convince the county Board of Supervisors, and the public, that it was fiscally disciplined and that there was no fat in the proposed budget. It would have been inconvenient for the public to focus on the hiring of additional, highly-paid staff assistants for the Board members, and the expense of renovating the Board’s office space, while other expenditures, including a bargained-for increase in teacher salaries, were being pared back.
A secret meeting may have seemed like the solution: the Board members could get what they wanted without the scrutiny that would have attended a transparent and lawful process.
A lawsuit will now be needed to rectify FCPS’s refusal to comply with FOIA. The suit will ask the court to rule that the closed meeting in February violated the law and that all documents relating to that meeting must be publicly disclosed.
It is honestly stunning that the residents of Fairfax County vote by party label and NOT by what is best for their children. The dumbing down of standards, the capitulation to unionization which has ruined CA public schools (I lived there for 40 years, moving here only 3 years ago), the anti-Asian discrimination, the trans grooming….
it’s baffling to me that parents and voters are so indifferent to the welfare of children.
Paulette: I totally agree. The voting by party label is the root of the problem. Most parents, if they focused, would oppose this insanity.
Paulette, I want to be friends with you. We’re in the minority here. I’ve lived here for over 65 years. I can’t believe it’s the same locale since the liberals infiltrated all aspects of rule. And they’re extreme. If you don’t bow to their whims, you endure name-calling, childish tantrums, hate and hypocrisy. I stay to fight back as best I can. It usually feels like talking to a brick wall but I will not retreat
Thank you for this! Should this info be forwarded to AG Miyares?
I’m not sure this is something the AG would do anything about, but it can’t hurt to let him know.
I find it incredible how deceitful are these supposedly “progressive” nincompoops running Fairfix County Schools. The sooner they are gone the better. Wake up Fairfax County voters!!
FCPS has long used tenuous claims of “attorney-client” privilege to avoid sharing records of interest. I’m still upset they claimed that exemption to withhold the 2020 study of the distance learning rollout conducted by law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth. That was management consulting work conveniently done by a law firm, and taxpayers and parents will never read it.
Chris: You are absolutely right. FCPS’s in-house attorney abuses the claim of “privilege” regularly. It has been improperly asserted against me several times. Some day he will be sanctioned for his abuse. I don’t think he will get away with it this time.
This position is paid at 2 x a new teacher salary and 20 k more than a teacher with 29 years experience and 2 masters degrees. Unfortunately they have dismantled public education by lowering the academic bar and not providing discipline for disruptive behavior.
They apparently think their admin assistants are twice as qualified and twice as hard working as the school teachers.
I personally feel that these board members stole taxpayer money. I also feel that everyone that hired a family member should be impeached!! The county has raised our real estate taxes by how much in the last 10 years? For what? To give these liberal progressive brainwashers more money to decorate their work space. All the while teachers are over worked with too many children in a class, they spend their own money on supplies and then a raise is out of the question because money is being spent on hiring family members!!
This needs to be investigated and people need to be charged for breaking the transparency laws, stealing from the taxpayers and for just being disgustingly greedy!!. I have lived in Fairfax County for 62 years and it just keeps getting worse and worse. Enough, wake up voters, what have they done for your children lately?
Shelly: Thanks for your comment.
I agree with most of your arguments but using the term “liberal progressive brainwashers“ tarnishes your opinion.
Arrogance and belief in one’s moral superiority is a bad combination.
Mark, thank you for bringing light to this. The County has transparency issues at every level. I ran for County Board of Supervisors Sully District last election cycle only after someone else was running for school board. I saw first hand voters. just voting their ticket and many folks stated they could not vote for me because of being an R. Some even said they liked what I stood for. The BoS needs to use their bully pulpit to get this corrected. We need the news organizations to have these things reported on news as well as online. If word gets out more, maybe more folks would hear it and investigate themselves into the candidates.
Keith: Thanks. The tendency of voters to choose School Board members on the basis of party affiliation is the root of the problem. Few would support this Board if they focused on what they really stand for. Only one or two of the 12 Dems on the current Board are middle-of-the-road Dems.
I seriously hope something is done. That someone is held accountable. Everyone needs to go, including the superintendent. Nothing but greed, they keep shooting for the dumbing down of America. People that work for this county are struggling and over worked.
Bryce: Thanks for your comment. I fully agree that someone should be held accountable for the flagrant, sneaky actions of the School Board here. But I’m not holding my breath.
I had heard of the hiring of the assistants at higher than a teacher’s salary, but the fact that this was done in a closed meeting is just inexcusable. (The decorating is a slap in a face.) This does merit civil action and I hope that justice is served for this illegal action taken behind closed doors. Talk about autocrats; we have our own little bunch of them right here!
Valerie: Well said!!!
thank you for bringing to our attention,,,,,,,they keep asking for more money and now we know why,,,,,,more money spent on admin than actually education of the students,,,,,,,and admissions are down, Homeschooling and private schools growing in numbers, They should be cutting staff and maybe our taxes will go down,
Carolyn: Thanks for your comment. The additional money they’re spending for the new staff positions may be the proverbial “drop in the bucket,” considering that FCPS has a $4 billion budget, but they obviously knew that hiring these highly-paid assistants for themselves would be controversial. That’s why they attempted to sneak their action through in an unlawful, secret meeting.
Mark, I came into your community to help with national security goals in February 2024. I write with Kansas State and got published last summer in Advanced Technologies for Humanity. I have been sending correspondence to FCPS, Fairfax County Government, and the schools themselves asking for help with military readiness. I have been warning them about the upcoming war for over a year now.
Do you know what an SRO is and how it went from officers in schools to private individuals, and now there is a hybrid system? The issue is no one is properly trained about COC and information sharing, and the police develop children independently and don’t communicate with school staff properly, or even worse, there’s collusion to suppress information to guard against litigation and possible mitigation.
For instance, Stone Middle School had 5 girls OD last spring that was reported to the local PAC but not countywide. Do you think the people in Fairfax would like to know that smoke shops were selling chocolates laced with DMT? This is because the Farm Bill didn’t properly define certain laws, and people are opportunists. This doesn’t mean that our community shouldn’t know.
I believe your story could involve nepotism. School board members can hire useless friends and family to help support themselves, not the community. I can’t get paid for national security concerns, and I volunteer all over our community. I will provide you with more information, and my hand is out to you and our community. If you waste resources when resources are already stretched thin, this affects the quality of education. What about if the public schools are being dumbed down on purpose? A targeted attack by greedy politicians who only dance for the cash thrown at their feet.
I need help preparing our community with the grim realities of war to help save lives. Your children, on a countywidelevel, could have been understanding that education is important and preparation is key. I need to start high school general assemblies this fall to prepare our children. Our children, with training, can become officers, cybersecurity specialists, or specialized trainees in emerging technoligies to get them off the front lines. This will save lives in our community.
Take care, my friend, and my business card is my LinkedIn account. I own Civil Defense and other sites to get out a message to help communities stay strong, and I work with UNTOC-UNODC.
You should look into how the new school was bought. Did the superintendent do it without the board? Did the board do it in a closed meeting? Did the superintendent use Centreville’s (high school) upgrading funds?
Which organization could help support a lawsuit against the school board ‘s latest transgressions?
Darcy: I filed a FOIA suit against the School Board on Monday