The grievance report of the former William Fleming High School principal fired this week by the Roanoke School Board likely will remain closed.

That is unless Susan Willis herself chooses to grant the public access.

The school board is urging her to complete the needed written authorization and waiver to open the file. The board's lawyer said proceeding without Willis' approval may set up a precarious legal battle.

After consulting with the director of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, lawyer Tim Spencer said Thursday the board will not be able to make the report public because sharing it may violate Willis' privacy rights.

"I have further advised the School Board that if it releases the full report, it could subject the school system to legal liability," Spencer wrote Thursday in a memo to the media. "For that reason, the School Board has reluctantly agreed with my recommendation that it not release the full report."

Willis said Wednesday she had not made a decision about releasing the full report.

The board voted Tuesday to immediately dismiss Willis, who had been on paid leave since June when a Virginia Department of Education report implicated her as the ringleader in a Standards of Learning testing scandal. Dozens of students' schedules were changed without their knowledge to keep them from taking state-mandated tests -- an initiative intended to bolster the school's overall performance, according to the report. School officials in recent months said hundreds of students over the past three school years have been affected by testing irregularities.

The State Board of Education is expected to discuss revoking Fleming's accreditation status Tuesday at its regular meeting in Richmond. Willis said she intends to speak during the public comments session.