April Gillespie Said She 'Recorded Over' FOIA'd Video
It's the latest in a string of FOIA requests that Gillespie and her ideological partner on the School Board, Lisa Phelps, have claimed to not have or simply failed to comply with.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
Spotsylvania School Board member April Gillespie informed the school division’s compliance officer this week that she “recorded over” a video responsive to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.
A county resident requested the video, which was referenced by Gillespie, the Berkeley district representative, at the October 14 School Board meeting.
Gillespie stated at that meeting that she left the dais to record a citizen being escorted out of the meeting by a Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office deputy and that while she was doing so, the deputy assaulted her by “slamm[ing] the door on my right arm.”
The county resident requested the video under FOIA on October 26. In the November 13 response, Dennis Martin, the division’s FOIA officer and director of organizational compliance, wrote, “This requested record was in the custodian’s possession. However, Ms. Gillespie reported that she recorded over the video. Therefore, it is no longer in her possession. Based on this information, the requested record does not exist.”
However, a Facebook post made by a social media site two days ago claims to have the video.
Gillespie’s responsiveness to FOIA is also the subject of a petition filed by Theodore Marcus, another Spotsylvania resident, which has been appealed to Circuit Court.
That petition alleges that Gillespie and fellow School Board member Lisa Phelps are withholding records responsive to Marcus’s multiple requests for emails and text messages related to the December 2023 incidents involving the Riverbend High School varsity swim team.
School Board Chair Lorita Daniels sent official letters to Gillespie and Phelps in February of this year, informing them that “you are expected to comply with Virginia Code 2.2-3700 and produce any ‘applicable records’ from your personal phone/text message accounts, email account(s), and social media accounts that contain content related to the transaction of ‘school business.’”
Gillespie and Phelps have still not produced the responsive records, Marcus’s petition states. It asks the court to compel the School Board members to produce the records.
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The board should have had then comply already instead of allowing FOIA to go unanswered for several months forcing citizens to turn to the court for help. Enough of the dirtiness by Gillespie and Phelps do something Dr Daniels
It's a horror show operated by Dr. Daniels. She has the power to push reform, starting with sanctions for violations of law, going to court herself, etc. The citizens are suffering from the blight of this "Board", which Dr. Daniels, frankly, ignores.