Meeting Checklist

Please note that this is general, informal guidance based on a lay understanding of our obligations. We are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice. We strongly recommend that specific questions be directed to an attorney at law experienced in Virginia's requirements.

Prior to Your Subcommittee Meeting
1. At least five working days before your meeting:

a. Decide on the time and place for the meeting.


 * Remember that administrative discussions regarding the time, place, and/or agenda of a meeting are considered business, and also subject to FOIA's open meeting requirements. The chair may contact other members individually and make a decision, but a discussion among three or more members is a meeting.

b. Write an agenda for your meeting. The agenda must contain the time and place of the meeting, and should generally follow our

Wiki Template and Word Template (link temporarily removed - email us for a copy).

c. Send an email to Craig Metz  and to Shehnaz Khan  with the time, place, and agenda information.

If you need help, give us the contents and we'll format it for you.

2. At least four working days before your meeting:

a. Check that you received a reply and that someone is working on posting the information for your meeting. If you did not receive a reply and you have reached four working days before your meeting, send the agenda Word document directly to Joseph Owens , Michelle Gunessever , and SEACChair@lcps.org, asking that they post the announcement..

3. At least three working days before your meeting:

a. Check that you have received a reply from someone and that your agenda has been posted to the LCPS SEAC web page. It should be posted under "SEAC Meetings" and under that "Agendas."

During Your Meeting
1. Only members physically present may participate in business discussions and votes.

2. A quorum of the body must be physically present in order to vote.

3. Decide on one person to take minutes. The minutes must contain a list of the members who attended.

4. Decisions of the body must be made by an open vote (secret/closed votes are not permitted). The chair has discretion on the rules of order. For example, the chair may effect the vote through a call for unanimous consent. Also, the vote may be on a roll-up motion to adopt the decisions discussed during the meeting. The minutes must list any decisions voted on, and who voted for/against (which could be unanimous).

After Your Meeting
1. Send your minutes to Craig Metz  and to Shehnaz Khan  for posting and archival.

Q&A
1. What's a working day?

Our understanding is that a working day is a regularly scheduled business day. We generally follow the LCPS calendar for administrative staff, so work days and summer operating days would count, but LCPS holidays would not.

Our understanding is that the day of the meeting does not count as a day of notice for meetings, even if they are held after close of business. However, our understanding is that notice posted at any time during the posting day counts as a day of notice. In particular, three working days is not 72 hours.

As an example, for a SEAC meeting held at 6pm on Wednesday, October 2nd, our understanding is that the 2nd does not count as a day of notice. The three days required by FOIA are counted as (one) Tuesday the 1st, (two) Monday the 2nd, and (three) Friday, the 26th. Our understanding is that, if the notice is posted on or before Friday night on the 26th, the three working day notice requirement is met.

We strongly recommend that you submit notice with two working days of extra time to ensure that the notice can be posted in time.

2. What happens if notice cannot be provided, for good reason?

There are provisions in FOIA for special, continued, and emergency meetings -- see 2.2-3707(D). 

This a complex situation and you should seek specific guidance before using this provision. The situation most likely to apply to us is when we are impacted by snow days and have a deadline that can't be met if the meeting is rescheduled.

3. What happens if notice isn't provided, and there's not a good reason?

Don't meet. Reschedule.

More Information
Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council