Sidley Austin, LLP
1501 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005

March 14, 2023

Via Email Only

Attorney General Miyares
c/o Christine L. Johnson
Virginia Office of the Attorney General
202 North 9th Street
Richmond, VA 23219

Re: Fairfax County Public Schools

Dear Attorney General Miyares:

Since January of this year, your office has sent a number of pre-investigation letters to Fairfax County Public Schools (“FCPS”). These letters have not been used to confidentially seek information from the district. Rather, the Attorney General has publicly released these letters through press releases and social media posts. The language used in these letters and accompanying press releases does not suggest that the Attorney General is conducting legitimate inquiries and investigations, but rather that your office has reached certain conclusions before even gathering the basic facts. More problematically, the Attorney General has used inflammatory language and rhetoric, falsely accusing certain FCPS school-based educators, by name, of racially discriminating against students.

Since the Attorney General’s office took these unnecessary actions, the named FCPS principals have received numerous threats. FCPS has taken all appropriate steps to promptly alert law enforcement of these threats and to protect the safety of all FCPS staff, students, and administrators, which is our top concern.

I write to inform you of these facts and to demand that the Attorney General’s office and the Office of the Governor immediately cease this dangerous behavior, which puts our educators and students at risk. We have discussed this issue with Superintendent Dr. Reid and she asked us to share that she is gravely concerned about the safety of FCPS’s learning environments as a result of the recent inflammatory communications from your office. While she understands there may be political and ideological differences, her hope is that both FCPS and the state’s leaders have a shared interest in maintaining the health (including the mental health) and safety of our staff and students. She remains committed to being thoughtfully responsive to all questions and concerns that arise and to responding on behalf of the division.

Finally, as you know, under Virginia law, it is the superintendent, not an individual school-based employee, that is authorized to accept legal process on behalf of a school division. Consistent with these legal requirements, please address all future notices to Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid, with a copy to me and Division Counsel John Foster. We will ensure that a proper response is provided to your office.

Very truly yours,

M. Sean Royall