Media Statement: June 20, 2023, FCPS Corrects Misleading Claims Made by Attorney General
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has cooperated, and continues to cooperate, with the Virginia Attorney General’s investigation focusing on notification to FCPS high school students regarding their National Merit commendations. But we will not allow this investigation to put our teachers and staff at risk.
When the AG (on June 1) went to court seeking to subpoena a privileged investigation report prepared by our outside legal counsel, we expressed a number of concerns, including that the AG’s actions could lead to the public disclosure of the names of 23 FCPS employees who were interviewed as part of that investigation, invading their privacy and potentially subjecting them to harassment and threats.
Before filing our legal objections to the AG’s subpoena petition, FCPS counsel contacted the AG’s Office multiple times. Our counsel sought to explore with the AG’s staff whether there was a way to provide the requested report to his office confidentially as an aid to their investigation, without triggering a broad public disclosure of private details and without waiving the attorney-client privilege. It was only after learning that the AG’s office was not amenable to such an approach that we were forced to file objections to the requested subpoena.
In its June 1 court filing, AG Miyares continued to disregard such privacy concerns by openly disclosing those names in non-confidential exhibits. Fortunately, the AG’s Office this past Friday (June 16) agreed with our counsel to take actions to keep those exhibits out of the public record.
Nevertheless, as recently as last Tuesday, in a televised interview, AG Miyares appeared to dismiss the significance of such privacy and safety concerns. He claimed in that June 13 interview that he was entirely unaware of anything supporting concerns that FCPS teachers and staff have received threats over this issue, saying, “None of that has reached my desk.” He also told the reporter that “the first time” he “heard” of concerns about such threats was through a June 12 recorded statement by FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid. He also claimed that there is no “evidence whatsoever” of any “credible threats” to FCPS teachers and staff.
Those public statements are inaccurate. Over three months ago, on March 14, 2023, we notified AG Miyares directly in a letter from our counsel that multiple FCPS educators had received serious threats after those individuals were publicly identified by name by his office and falsely accused of discriminating against students. The letter asked AG Miyares to immediately stop this dangerous practice. Our counsel elaborated on the extreme severity of those threats in a subsequent call with the AG’s senior staff, stressing that the affected individuals had been fearful for their own safety. We also informed the AG that law enforcement officials took these threats very seriously.
In his June 13 televised interview, AG Miyares also told the reporter that FCPS counsel, after receiving his June 1 legal filing, did not “communicate with [his] office,” but rather simply refused to cooperate and rushed to court. As noted above, this too is inaccurate.
Our counsel has today written another letter to AG Miyares expressing concern about the inaccuracy of his recent public statements, and asking that he avoid such misstatements in the future. As our counsel also conveyed, FCPS continues to be open to reasonable discussions about ways to amicably resolve these issues. But FCPS also remains committed to protecting the privilege that applies here, and most importantly remains committed to safeguarding the privacy and personal security of our teachers and administrators.
