Loudoun County School Board member Arben Istrefi (Sterling) is defending a decision last Spring to turn off cameras at school board meetings during public comment sessions. Loudoun County government and school board proceedings are normally taped, televised and made available to the public unless the body enters into executive session.
However, at its March 12, 2024 meeting, the Loudoun County School Board voted 6-3 to turn off cameras during the public comment portion of their meetings stating they did not want the school board meeting to devolve into “chaos” on controversial topics, and they wanted to allow the public to speak about sensitive topics without them being videotaped out of consideration for the speakers.
Normally, citizens understand that when they speak at a public meeting that they are going to be videotaped and recorded. Under the new policy, the video stream of meetings provide only the audio and closed captioning during that portion of the agenda.
The decision came down to a 6-3 vote on an amendment made by Chair Melinda Mansfield (Dulles), who said she did not intend for the public comment period to be used for “political grandstanding.”
Ashburn District School Board member Deana Griffiths tried to get cameras turned back on public speakers during their comments, claiming not having them took away the speaker’s dignity.
The previous school board stopped showing faces June 22, 2021, the day of a highly charged meeting that drew a large crowd to speak on a draft policy on transgender student rights and grew unruly, resulting in an arrest. The previous board decided to stop showing faces out of concerns critics were using the forum to create attention-getting videos. Under that practice cameras remained, but transmitted an angle that did not show speakers.
Griffiths presented a request as an information item during the board’s Feb. 27 meeting and sought a suspension of the board’s procedural rules to vote on turning the cameras back on. She was not successful in getting a two-thirds majority vote required to suspend the rules and the item was placed on the March 12 agenda for action where it passed.
Her effort ended with an amendment to adopt a policy of turning cameras off completely and have only audio and closed captioning available. That was approved on the 6-3 vote, with Lauren Shernoff (Leesburg), LaBell (Catoctin) and Griffiths opposed.
In an interview with WJLA7 two days ago, Istrefi finally addressed the long-standing issue saying, “I understand the concerns and I appreciate the question. I have tried to vote with an open mind on all issues. I believe LCPS did a fantastic job in trying to improve the trust. I believe our superintendent says, ‘When you know better, you do better’.”
He continued: “I believe we have a great public comment system, which allows everyone to speak their mind,” Istrefi said. “We have held listening sessions. We have documentation containing all of the feedback received from these listening sessions.”
“Part of my decision was to consider other people who may come to the meeting, especially when they have a controversial topic that they would like to discuss,” Istrefi replied.
WJLA7 reporter Nick Minock said, “If that is the case, then they can meet you privately. This is a period for public comments. When you go to a public comments period, it’s clear that you will be heard both by the public and your school board representatives. Sumera Rashid, one of your colleagues on the school board, voted with you to turn off the camera because she didn’t want to have a Jerry Springer-style episode. Are you in agreement with her?”
Istrefi replied, “I won’t comment on the comments of another member of the school board. I think, again, that when you compare me to other school divisions I think we were able to show that we wanted to hear from our constituencies. We’re still allowing everybody to come and talk. It’s important to me that we focus on transparency and trust.”
Michael Rivera, a former school board candidate, told All Virginia News, “What Istrefi basically said is mush. It has no substance. You ran on transparency, be transparent.”
Others commented they also felt it’s not the school board’s role to determine “comfortability” of speakers or try to avoid the public from seeing comments made by citizens who disagree with school board policies and are airing their grievances.
“If it’s an open and public comment period then it should be open and public!” said a parent who has two children in the school district. “To do anything else is secretive and shady.”
Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be reached at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news
