Be specific. Be accurate. Provide the evidence.

Albemarle School Board Chairwoman Kate Acuff, JD, PhD, said at an April 28th School Board Work Session that science labs in some Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) “are falling apart.” Please note that I am quoting Ms. Acuff here. I was listening to this School Board meeting via computer audio streaming and this is exactly what she said, word for word. You can check the tape. The next day I e-mailed Chairwoman Acuff — who I consider to be a valuable, well-meaning, and hard-working public official — with the following request: ‘In accordance with the tenets and timelines of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I would like to examine a list of the science rooms/labs that you consider to be "falling apart."’ After not receiving a reply from Ms. Acuff within the legally prescribed five business days set out in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I asked Phil Giaramita, the School Division’s Communications Officer, if he would check into this for me. He did so quickly and apparently happily, at least to me. On the seventh business day following my request for this listing of science rooms and/or labs that Ms. Acuff said were “falling apart,” I received an explanation and an apology from ACPS Chief Operating Officer Dean Tistadt, a very knowledgeable, very capable, and very busy fellow, in my opinion. Here, in part, is what COO Tistadt wrote to me in his May 9th e-mail: “First, please accept my sincere apology for the lack of timeliness in my replying to your email to Ms. Acuff. I had been requested to reply to you but I dropped the ball.” And later in his e-mail: “There are no documents that substantiate that our science labs are falling apart as that language suggests conditions that are more egregious that is actually the case. What is true is that our science labs need to be modernized. I regret language that I probably used with School Board members that resulted in them using it also.” Both the apology and the explanation accepted from Mr. Tistadt. Ms. Acuff also took time on May 9th to e-mail me. Here, in part, is what she had to say: “Thank you for your letter and I apologize for not responding sooner. As the email Dean Tistadt sent you noted, I had contacted him to get some materials together concerning our need to update many of our facilities, including our science labs and there was confusion about who was going to respond to you. In any case, I should have immediately contacted you about having done that.” And later in her e-mail: ‘I also must note that in my raising the importance of updating many of our learning spaces I, perhaps, overstated the case that some of our science labs were "falling apart."’ Both the apology and the explanation accepted from Ms. Acuff. Anyone can make a mistake and miss a deadline from time to time — even ones required by State Code. Most of the time it matters, sometimes not so much. Under the tenets and timelines — and spirit — of the Virginia FOIA, it can matter a lot if someone wants to assume the time and costs to press the issue in court. I don’t in this instance. What I do want to spend a split second of my time on here, however, (but at no cost) is the matter of specificity, accuracy, and evidence. Whenever elected, appointed, or hired government officials open their mouths about the public’s business and the public’s money, it's my opinion that they should: Be specific. Be accurate. Provide the evidence. Or keep their mouths shut. Now, onto whatever’s next, Albemarle.