You've never heard of this group; here's why you should care
It's January 27. Williamsburg-based Coalition for Open Government celebrates 30 years this month. Plus, as the number of home-schooled kids grows, a new arts center expands to serve them.
CORRECTION: We got the name of VCOGS wrong, calling it the Center, rather than the Coalition for Open Government. We regret the error and have corrected it below.
You’ve probably never heard of the Williamsburg-based Virginia Coalition for Open Government, which this year celebrates 30 years fighting to open the workings of government to taxpayers.
Executive Director Megan Rhyne, who has been with the group for all but two of those years, says the average citizen doesn’t know the center exists, and why it fights to strengthen Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Although the center was founded by news media and the Virginia Press Association in 1996, Rhyne said the purpose of FOIA is not to help the news media, but the common citizen.
“When you are working for the public, you have a duty to the public to do your work in front of them and give them access to information and to you,” Rhyne says.
“I kind of feel like (FOIA is) like, needing a lawyer,” she jokes. “Nobody likes lawyers until they need one.”
One graduate of the center’s annual workshops on FOIA won a court battle against the city of Williamsburg January 16.
Robert Lee Wilson, representing himself, won an order from Williamsburg-James City County General District court ordering the city to turn over all documents between it and a local developer for the termination of a failed attempt to build townhouses on Strawberry Plains Road.
Rhyne said the case illustrated how Virginia governments “overuse a couple of exemptions, most notably ones having to do with attorney-client relationships and ones having to do with the so-called working papers and correspondence of certain individuals.”
Government officials have a variety of ways to get around the rules, including talking in small groups that do not meet the law’s requirement for a public forum.
We at Williamsburg Watch have observed meetings in every public body we cover, from local city councils and boards of supervisors to school boards, where a decision is made at a meeting with no discussion. The individuals involved spoke behind the scenes in a series of one-on-one conversations or phone calls to evade the quorum requirement for a public meeting.
Another common tactic is to charge exorbitantly high fees to provide copies of public records, Rhyne says.
Part of the reason for this is the explosion of email usage, she adds. When Williamsburg Watch sought emails between local officials and the Virginia Department of Education last year, the department said it yielded more than 80,000 records.
Rhyne said modern technology, including the use of artificial intelligence, could help governments cost-efficiently deal with that problem.
Another reason for lack of transparency is ignorance on the part of newly elected officials, she says.
“You’re just constantly having these people come in who may be coming from private sector backgrounds (protesting) what do you mean I have to show my work and talk in front of the public?” she says. “Each new year brings in more new people who kind of have to be retrained, essentially, that no, this is different when you are working for the public.”
You can review VCOGS information on its website, www.opengovva.org. or follow Rhyne in her substack newsletter, below.
W-JCC, York schools closed today
Schools in the historic triangle will remain closed Tuesday because neighborhood roads remain icy, The Williamsburg-James City County and York County schools systems announced.
Students will work remotely with assigned learning activities at their own pace without teacher interaction.
As home schooling grows, local fine arts program expands to serve them
Krista John works on costumes with her twins
A local program that offers arts enrichment programs to home-schooled children is expanding into a permanent location and adding offerings this month, as the number of home-schooled children continues to rise.
The founder of the Williamsburg School for the Arts and Innovation, Krista John, told us she is also going to start offering after school and summer programs for children who attend regular schools as well. John, who home-schools her two children, has a masters degree in education.
For home-schooled children, it’s an opportunity to enhance home schooling lessons alongside other children and to participate in a lavish theater production like The Wizard of Oz and C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Last school year, 1,517 students were home schooled in the Historic Triangle, and 66,117 across Virginia, according to the state department of education. The number of children who registered as home schooled, or with a religious exemption, rose 49% in Virginia from 2019 to 2025. It’s up 64% in the Williamsburg-James City County school system and 37% in York County over the same period, according to state figures.
“We are offering comprehensive performing arts classes and fine arts classes, not just arts and crafts,” John said. “They’re actually learning the foundations of different types of fine arts, and foundations of acting and improvisation.”
Students can learn every aspect of a theater production, including building sets and sewing costumes.
John works with a staff of seven other teachers.
She and her husband Gary settled in Williamsburg in 2022. They had been living in Phoenix but decided they did not want to raise their twins, Issy and Logan, in the big city, she said.
“We bought an RV and we traveled to 43 states to try to figure out where we wanted to raise our family,” John said. “And I’ve always loved Williamsburg...In 2022, we moved here in our RV.
“We literally packed up everything we owned (and) parked at one of the campgrounds up there near the (Croaker) library and we stayed there till we found a house.”
John began with a humanities class, staged a play, and incorporated the arts school in May of 2025. The school rented rooms in places as varied as the Stryker Center and Bruton Parish church until it found a permanent home at the site of a former day care center at 4300 John Tyler Highway.
Most of the school’s programs cost $29 a week.
As she expands her offerings, John is experimenting with programs like yoga. Her students have ranged in age from two years old to high school.
“We’re trying out different ideas this session,” which starts Jan. 26, John said. “So this is not how it may look like in the fall.”
John said she plans to offer a regular schedule for enrichment classes that would allow parents to build a consistent hybrid schedule of home schooling and on campus enrichment sessions.
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Community briefs
Counting Homeless in James City County:
James City County will conduct the Unsheltered Point in Time Count the morning of Jan. 29. The PIT Count is a one-day survey used to collect data on individuals and families experiencing homelessness who are sleeping outside. If you become aware of anyone who is sleeping outside, please gather specifics about the location and send it to the Housing email at housing@jamescitycountyva.gov .
Bus Art Contest:
The Williamsburg Area Transit Authority is calling local artists to submit artwork commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution for a chance to win $500. Winning artwork will be used to wrap a WATA bus. Submissions will be accepted until March 15 at https://www.gowata.org/266/2026-Bus-Art-Contest
Winter agricultural meeting:
F.O.R.T., the Friends of Forge Road and Toano, is hosting a winter meeting where extension agent Luke Gladden will give spring planting tips and discuss soil and water conservation and pasture management. The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 in the Toano Fire Station’s community room.
Passings
Thanks for highlighting the work Megan Rhyne does on behalf of FOIA. She presented a course on becoming a citizen watchdog for Osher Lifelong Learning this past fall semester. I came away better able to monitor legislation I am interested in.