ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180067
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
THE VIRGINIA Supreme Court's ruling the other day in a case involving a student-government election at a Fairfax County high school represents a victory for mumbo jumbo over the intent of the state's Freedom of Information law.
Though it might appear less than momentous, the ruling gives aid and comfort to government bureaucrats who want to circumvent the law and evade the scrutiny of their bosses - the public - for whatever ludicrous purpose. To nix that trend, already too common in Virginia, the General Assembly should look into tightening the law's language.
At the center of the Fairfax County case was the school system's decision to keep secret the voting tallies in a student election - to announce only the winners' names - on the grounds that the numbers could embarrass, yea, even humiliate, those students who lost.
Now there's a lesson in democracy for our future citizens: Government will decide whether vote tallies will be made public to the voters. Secrecy and suppression of information are required to protect the frail feelings of those who run for office.
In response to a high-school newspaper editor's Freedom-of-Information suit to get the vote totals, school officials claimed the totals were ``scholastic records,'' similar to students' test scores and disciplinary records, and so exempt from disclosure.
Incredibly, the Supreme Court has agreed - despite one code section that states various restrictions on the release of information about students shall not apply to information ``concerning participation in athletics and other school activities, the winning of scholastic or other honors and awards, and other like information.'' The high court said: Even if the law permits disclosure of voting tallies, ``it clearly does not require such disclosure.'' Case closed.
And so never mind that the code also states that the Freedom of Information Act "shall be liberally construed to promote an increased awareness of all persons of governmental activities . . . [and] [a]ny exception or exemption from applicability shall be narrowly construed in order that no thing which should be public may be hidden from any person."
All Virginians, not just the Fairfax students, have been treated to a seminar on the prerogatives of government.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB