Lisa Phelps on May 20 Police Body Cam
Following a contentious closed-session meeting of the Spotsylvania County School Board, Phelps is caught on police body cams talking about being 'removed' and being 'bullied.'
The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office has released footage from the May 20 School Board meeting showing the minutes just after the closed session at which Board member Lisa Phelps alleges fellow Board member Nicole Cole assaulted her.
Body-worn cameras from two deputies captured the footage, which the Advance requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
The two videos, which are embedded below, show the same interactions from different angles.
The meeting was not being livestreamed at the time this footage was captured.
The footage shows Phelps standing outside the room where the closed session was being held, going into the room briefly, and then coming back out.
Once out, she takes her seat at the dais and says that she was being “bullied back there.” She continues talking for roughly two more minutes, telling deputies to “take me out like they want.”
Both videos start with no sound until each officer turns their audio recording function on. The sound comes on at approximately the one-minute mark in both videos,
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Troy Skebo said deputies activate their body-worn cameras to “record all contacts with citizens in the performance of official duties.”
Cole’s trial is set for July 1.
I was in attendance at this meeting in person. These videos of her public behavior and ranting is exactly what I witnessed.
Based on her public behavior at this and at other board meetings, Spotsylvania residents, especially parents of students who attend our public schools, should have concerns about Phelps' desire to make decisions that best serve students and our public school division.
Pay close attention to her comments from the dais to staff members. She appears to be insinuating that the school board will target them. It is significant to note that at the time of this meeting there were very few people present. The audience consisted mainly of school division staff from the central office and a very small number of members of the public.
At this time in the meeting the livestreaming and microphones were not working. I witnessed the person who is generally at the meetings running the livestream. He appeared to be working diligently to get the streaming and microphones working. Phelps is insinuating that the "media" (livestream and microphones) not working was intentional. I saw no indication of that.
This isn’t breaking news; it’s part of a pattern from Phelps. Maybe we should FOIA more of these. Then yall would get a better picture of Lisa Phelps’ behavior off camera.
People don’t get the full picture of these meetings unless they’re attending in person. Back at the meeting regarding the community input for the superintendent search, she whined about being bullied by the other board members to the two people from the firm not once (before the meeting began) but twice (again during one of the “breaks” she and Gillespie caused).
Please report on the pattern of behavior here. There is one and people need to understand that.