The VLW Blog

The school board in King George County has been defending itself in court against a claim that it improperly handled a student’s discipline appeal. The case has been followed closely by the local paper, The Journal Press. In this latest article about the controversy, the newspaper reviews the detailed entries on the bills from the school board’s lawyers (Pat Lacy and Stacy Haney with Reed Smith) to draw conclusions about when the board should have known that it’s legal position was flawed.  (We should note that the suggested flaws have not been fully tested, as the case still is pending.)  Of course, the amount of the legal bills also comes in for criticism.

We have to wonder if local government attorneys now will make it a point to request vaguely-worded descriptions of legal work from outside counsel, to avoid public parsing of the bills to speculate on what advice was given when by the lawyers.

By Peter Vieth

A King George County circuit judge may entertain a rare court challenge to the way the local school district handles discipline appeals. The law allowing Virginia circuit courts to hear appeals of school discipline cases is restrictive by design. A disgruntled student or parent has only 30 days to file after an adverse school discipline decision. Even if you make it to court on time, the judge can grant relief only if “the school board exceeded its authority, acted arbitrarily or capriciously, or abused its discretion.”

Nevertheless, the King George case is moving ahead. Yesterday, Judge Horace Revercomb heard evidence that the King George school board delegated its discipline appeal authority to a committee of administrative staffers. That arrangement may not comport with state school discipline law. According to the Journal Press, the judge said, “Frankly, I think the statutes have not been complied with.” Pending further proceedings, the judge granted an injunction halting the suspension of the high school student in question.

And, as long as we’re talking about high school matters, we should note that the Supreme Court of Virginia on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in a dispute over where to locate a new Loudoun County High School. The Loudoun Times has the details.

Grundy native Lee Smith, the award-winning author who has chronicled life in Southwest Virginia in a number of novels, was back in her home region this week. She had a speaking engagement at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

She was asked about an effort to ban her novel, “Fair and Tender Ladies,” by the Washington County School Board. The novel details the life of a young woman in Appalachia and includes a short passage about her first sexual experience. Some of the words used are “crude,” prompting the school board to appoint a committee to review the book and determine if high school honor students should read it.

Smith told the Bristol Herald Courier that she was sorry to hear about the book-banning effort. The novel is “a love story to Southwest Virginia,” she said. “Fair and Tender Ladies” is an homage to the older Appalachian women she knew growing up, she added.