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Noreen Carroll Crowley

Date published: 7/16/2006

Residents of Stafford County owe a debt of gratitude to Support Our Schools parents for their efforts to shine a light on the illegal actions of School Board members Robert Belman, Nanette Kidby, and Doreen Phillips. Conducting secret meetings about school business in flagrant violation of Virginia's open-meeting laws should not be tolerated by the taxpayers.

This is an abhorrent abuse of an important open-government process with which all elected officials must comply. Freedom of Information Act training and rules for compliance are routinely and frequently provided to all levels of elected officials. Bluntly speaking as a former School Board member, their plea of ignorance is a lame excuse.

While admitting their guilt in violating the open-meetings law, Belman, Kidby, and Phillips arrogantly released a statement stating that the lawsuit and the parents who brought it forward were "politically motivated." Say what?

As a parent, I believe that elected school officials charged with enforcing the rules of our school system should be true models of exemplary conduct. "Do as I say and not as I do" is unlikely to breed respect for our school system by students or employees or from the community.

This violation is a serious black mark on the reputation of the Stafford County School Board and a flagrant abuse of the public trust. It calls into question these board members' true motives in serving public education in Stafford County.

Perhaps citizens would be better served for members Belman, Kidby, and Phillips to resign their School Board seats leaving them free to advance their personal political agendas while avoiding the burdensome FOIA regulations they find so difficult to grasp.

Falmouth

Noreen Carroll Crowley is a former member of the Stafford County School Board.

Date published: 7/16/2006