Virginia attorney general subpoenas school district over merit awards investigation

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) officials announced that they’ve been subpoenaed by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office to release a report on an investigation into the district’s failure to notify some students of their National Merit Awards. FCPS says it's fighting the subpoena by taking “legal action.”

FCPS says it conducted an independent investigation into their notification process and released a summary of the investigation in March. The investigation concluded that educators did not do anything to intentionally harm students or their college applications, according to FCPS.

"We released a high-level summary of key-fact findings from that report to the public. As noted in the summary, the independent investigation found no evidence of inequity or bias – and no evidence that FCPS deliberately withheld any student notifications," said FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle C. Reid.

The school district has filed paperwork against Attorney General Jason Miyares' petition in court, according to WUSA9.

"We strongly feel [the subpoena] is unjustified," Reid said.

FCPS claims its independent investigation involved private information, including confidential interviews with staff and parents and reviewing confidential documentation.

The district claims revealing the requested information would "likely result in a risk to staff safety, a waiver of privilege, and public disclosure of confidential information relating to individual FCPS students, teachers, and administrators."  

Miyares Spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita released the following statement on Monday:

Today, Fairfax County Public Schools made clear that it believes it is immune from Virginia’s anti-discrimination laws. It is not. In fact, only months ago, FCPS claimed that “our School Board is committed to following the Virginia Human Rights Act…”.  FCPS now confirms it will only comply with the law when politically convenient. No school system is above the law. If the report shows no wrongdoing, then FCPS should release it. Attorney General Miyares’s investigation into this matter will continue. 

The Attorney General values the safety of Virginians above all else, and expects that FCPS reported any credible threats to the proper authorities.