Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says his office will not be sharing any of the concerns and complaints sent into his newly created parent tip email address.
Youngkin announced the creation of special email address earlier last month. He asked parents to send in concerns about their children’s rights being violated or if they see school curriculum they believe is divisive. The opportunity drew cheers from some parents. But other Virginians criticized and mocked it as a "snitch" line. Still others encouraged families to send in notes praising teachers.
News4 reporter Aimee Cho submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to find out what parents were writing about.
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But all requests to make the emails public have been turned down.
"It's confidential," Youngkin said. "We do not report on anything from constituent services. It would be inappropriate to comment on anything in the content, and in fact it would be like you writing a letter to me and then me disclosing it."
Youngkin said emails are handled by his constituent services office. He says they are an important tool for him to be able to listen and find out what's on Virginians' minds.
"The email address available to all Virginians to give us feedback is part of constituent services," Youngkin said. "It's a big part of listening to Virginians and a big part of why I ran, which, the way constituent services works is letters and calls and emails all come into constituent services and then our team responds as needed to them."
