UPDATE: Additional documents released from March to April 2020
New FOIA documents released.
This blog post has been updated to include Document Release Set 3, the final set, below.
Thanks to our generous community, we were able to request and pay for the following Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request as sent to the FCPS FOIA Office:
You requested all e-mails to/from the below FCPS employees from March 1, 2020, to April 17, 2020:
Scott Brabrand
Maribeth Luftglass
Your new request seeks all e-mail correspondence containing the search terms “"Blackboard," "BB", "distance learning", "virtual learning" or "online learning” for one FCPS staff member and one former FCPS staff member, thus creating a voluminous review of 6,000 emails. Because there are approximately 6000K records that need reviewing, there will be a significant amount of time required to determine which records should be included, excluded, or redacted. No records will be released until they completely go through the review vetting process.
Please be advised that records containing FCPS personnel information will be withheld in their entirety, pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2-3705.1(1). As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(2), records containing legal advice will be withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(3), records used in an active investigation will be withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(2), records used in a closed meeting will be withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(10), records that contain personal information will be redacted or withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.4(1), records that contain identifiable student information will be redacted or withheld in their entirety. The above list are some examples of disclosure exemptions that apply to your request.
The cost estimate for staff time to search for, review and redact potentially responsive records is $1,400 (40 hours @$35 per hour). Fairfax County Public Schools is allowed under VFOIA to charge for such expenses, pursuant to Va. Code § 2.2-3704(F). As a courtesy, we do not charge requesters for the first half hour required to process the request; therefore, the total search cost will be $1,382.50. Since this is over the $200 threshold outlined in Va. Code § 2.2-3704(H), a deposit of $691.25 is required before continuing to process this portion of your request. The deposit will be credited to the final cost of supplying the records.
As promised, we are sharing these documents publicly. We will also be posting our analysis in separate updates in this section of our website. Because of the size of our request, FCPS has been releasing the documents to us piecemeal, once every few months. Every time we get a new release, it will be shared in its entirety here.
Document Release 1 can be downloaded here.
Document 1 - Pages 575 to 1030
Document Release 2 can be downloaded here.
Document 2 - Pages 994 to 1098
Document 2 - Pages 1099 to 1278
Document Release 3 can be downloaded here. (Warning: Some documents contain potentially foul language.)
Document 3 - Record 1 (204 total pages)
Document 3 - Record 2 (106 total pages)
Document 3 - Record 3 (145 total pages)
Document 3 - Record 4 (149 total pages)
Document 3 - Record 5 (169 total pages)
Document 3 - Record 6 (68 total pages)
For press inquiries or an interview request, please email us.
FCPS signs final agreement with Blackboard on Saturday night before distance learning was to begin
Let’s take a step back in time, shall we? If you recall, the last day our children attended school in person was March 13, 2020. Then, supposedly, FCPS took the entire month to prepare for distance learning. Well, how well did that go? We all remember.
One factor was that there was absolutely no load testing done on the Blackboard system and it crashed on the very first day. In fact, it started experiencing problems when faculty and parents started logging on for meetings on Monday, April 13.
This is less than 72 hours after the contract with Blackboard was signed for the extended capacity FCPS thought would handle the additional distance learning capacity. Michelle Pratt, Office of Procurement, signed the Blackboard contract at 8pm on the evening of April 11th.
What were they doing? They were haggling about contract terms and price, but this all seemed to happen within the last few days before the distance learning start. Which begs the question, what were they doing in March?
Is this good leadership? Is this how Superintendent Brabrand runs a tight ship? And more importantly, does our School Board care?
This is a feature of School Board Accountability Month sponsored by our sister organization, Do Better Action PAC.
Do Better FCPS Releases Thousands of Pages of FCPS Emails
It all begins with an idea.
Thanks to our generous community, we were able to request and pay for the following Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request as sent to the FCPS FOIA Office:
You requested all e-mails to/from the below FCPS employees from March 1, 2020, to April 17, 2020:
Scott Brabrand
Maribeth Luftglass
Your new request seeks all e-mail correspondence containing the search terms “"Blackboard," "BB", "distance learning", "virtual learning" or "online learning” for one FCPS staff member and one former FCPS staff member, thus creating a voluminous review of 6,000 emails. Because there are approximately 6000K records that need reviewing, there will be a significant amount of time required to determine which records should be included, excluded, or redacted. No records will be released until they completely go through the review vetting process.
Please be advised that records containing FCPS personnel information will be withheld in their entirety, pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2-3705.1(1). As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(2), records containing legal advice will be withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(3), records used in an active investigation will be withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(2), records used in a closed meeting will be withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(10), records that contain personal information will be redacted or withheld in their entirety. As authorized by Va. Code § 2.2-3705.4(1), records that contain identifiable student information will be redacted or withheld in their entirety. The above list are some examples of disclosure exemptions that apply to your request.
The cost estimate for staff time to search for, review and redact potentially responsive records is $1,400 (40 hours @$35 per hour). Fairfax County Public Schools is allowed under VFOIA to charge for such expenses, pursuant to Va. Code § 2.2-3704(F). As a courtesy, we do not charge requesters for the first half hour required to process the request; therefore, the total search cost will be $1,382.50. Since this is over the $200 threshold outlined in Va. Code § 2.2-3704(H), a deposit of $691.25 is required before continuing to process this portion of your request. The deposit will be credited to the final cost of supplying the records.
As promised, we are sharing these documents publicly. We will also be posting our analysis in separate updates in this section of our website. Because of the size of our request, FCPS has been releasing the documents to us piecemeal, once every few months. Every time we get a new release, it will be shared in its entirety here.
Document Release 1 can be downloaded here.
Document 1 - Pages 575 to 1030
Document Release 2 can be downloaded here.
Document 2 - Pages 994 to 1098
Document 2 - Pages 1099 to 1278
For press inquiries or an interview request, please email us.