A group of Loudoun County parents in Virginia is calling for the superintendent's resignation and the school board members after they allegedly tried to cover up a sexual assault in May 2021.
According to reports, the cover-up surfaced in an email detailing that Superintendent Scott Ziegler lied about what he knew of the incident involving a 15-year-old male student who assaulted female students. Grandmother Carrie Michon called out the school officials during a meeting on October 26, stating that they buried the sexual assault incident in favor of their transgender policy.
Mom Patti Hidalgo Menders, who also leads the Loudoun County GOP Women's Club, said that because the school officials were more "concerned with pushing race and gender," they allowed a predator to attack girls at two different schools. Another mom, Erin Smith, said that the email from Ziegler should have raised the alarm bells, but the school officials failed to respond appropriately.
The Email Content
According to the New York Post, Ziegler referred to the sexual assault in a May 28 email to the school board. However, during a meeting on June 22, the superintendent said that they do not have any records of such an incident.
Ziegler responded to the fury coming from the victim's family and their supporters following the arrest of Scott Smith, the victim's father, who confronted the officials about what happened to his daughter. Smith, who was branded as a domestic terrorist for calling out the school officials, said that "a boy wearing a skirt" attacked his daughter in the girls' bathroom, highlighting the problems of their transgender policy.
Brenda Sheridan, the school board chairperson, told the angry Loudoun County parents that they could focus on the school district's leadership changes during the gubernatorial elections in Virginia in November. However, the parents insisted that Ziegler and the rest under his team should be out of their post as soon as possible and be ready to lawyer up.
The Sexual Assaults
The protest comes as a Loudoun County judge ruled on October 26 that the 15-year-old boy, who attended the Stone Bridge High School, was guilty of forcible sodomy and sexual assault against Smith's daughter. According to Attorney Buta Biberaj, the judge found sufficient evidence against the teenager, who has remained in detention since his arrest in early October.
The 15-year-old is still awaiting the outcome of another trial because he was charged with a second sexual assault when he transferred to Broad Run High School. On October 6, the boy allegedly attacked and inappropriately touched a female student, which resulted in his arrest.
Biberaj said that the court would decide on the boy's appropriate sentence once the two separate sexual assault cases were concluded.
Meanwhile, students at Broad Run High School, Stone Bridge High School, and Riverside High School have also staged a walkout protesting Ziegler and the school board members. They said that they no longer feel safe in their schools because of the transgender bathroom policy.
