Here is part 2 of our article on the legal matter against the conservative majority on the school board. It is clear this is political because the liberal minority of Cole, Daniels, and Shelley are purposely omitted from this announcement. Here are more of our responses to the announcement by the Edwards law firm.

“Declare and conduct an unlawful closed meeting that was on neither the original proposed agenda, nor on the substantially and materially altered substitute agenda”

Yes, it was on the agenda. We have included a screenshot of the original agenda below. It was also in the final agenda. Personnel matters are always covered under closed session.

“Declare and conduct an unlawful closed meeting without holding a vote to go into closed session. Vice Chair Mrs. April Gillespie, along with Members Mrs. Lisa A. Phelps and Mr. Rabih Abuismail, are also alleged to have willfully and knowingly violated Ms. Keyes’ rights and privileges under Virginia FOIA when they followed Chairman Twigg into the unlawful closed meeting without a vote, without public notice, and against their colleagues’ warnings of impending FOIA violations.”

All seven school board members made a choice to physically walk into a separate room for a closed session without the public present. This act alone by all 7 members constitutes consent and agreement to enter the closed session. Furthermore, the clerk and deputy clerk, Dennis Martin and Patty Boller abdicated their responsibilities for much of the meeting to ensure parliamentary procedures were followed. They choose not to read the board into closed session.

“The Edwards Law Firm PLLC is committed to maintaining the independence and impartiality of this investigation, and to pursuing any legal action necessary to serve the best interests of Spotsylvania County students”

Again, there is no impartiality when the law firm makes no mention of the liberal minority of Daniels, Cole, and Shelley as all three created chaos during the January 10 meeting. To serve the best interests of students, there was this thing called an election back in November 2021. The majority of voters choose a conservative majority on the school board. The attempt to undermine the will of the voters does not serve the best interest of Spotsylvania County students.