Judge exempts private messages between school superintendent, students

A Prince William Circuit Court judge today dismissed a lawsuit filed by former School Prince William County School Board Chairman At-large Ryan Sawyers, against the Prince William School Board that sought the disclosure of more than 20,000 direct messages sent to and from schools superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts, on his official school division Twitter account.

Following a hearing and her review of the direct messages, Prince William Circuit Judge Kimberly A. Irving held that the messages were “clearly exempted” from mandatory disclosure under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act because they were communications of the chief executive officer of the School Board, said school division spokeswoman Diana Gulotta.

Walts often communicated with students, parents, staff members, and other community members using direct messages to address their concerns and respond to questions, the judge found. Some of those communications were made during late evening hours, as well as during the school day.

Some of the Tweets sent to Walts from students included tweets asking Walts to go on a date with them. Walts did not discourage this behavior in his replies to the students, PLN found during an independent review of Walts’ Twitter account conducted in May.

Today, a judge compared Walts’ direct messages on Twitter to traditional, written letters considered protected correspondence under the Freedom of Information Act. Additionally, the judge ruled that messages written by Walts’ communications assistant at his direction are also exempt from disclosure under Virginia law, said Gulotta.

Judge Irving ruled in favor of the School Board on all issues raised by Sawyers in his lawsuit, which also sought payment of Sawyers’ attorneys’ fees.

School Board Chairman, Dr. Babur Lateef, said the Board appreciates the judge’s well-reasoned decision and the resolution of this matter,  which diverted resources away from the School Board’s focus on reopening schools and restoring educational services to students during this unprecedented pandemic.