WATCH: Parents of sexual assault victim demand Loudoun school board ‘clean house’
Jeremiah Poff
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The parents of one of the victims of the sexual assaults in Loudoun County Public Schools last year blasted the school board at its Tuesday meeting and demanded the board fire more members of the district’s administration.
Scott and Jessica Smith were among the dozens of parents and local stakeholders who addressed the Loudoun County school board at the Tuesday meeting, the board’s first since a special grand jury report said the school district had “failed at every juncture” in responding to the sexual assaults of two female students by a male student. One of the victims was the Smiths’ daughter.
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The board quickly fired district superintendent Scott Ziegler last week following the release of the report, but the fallout of the report was just beginning. On Monday, a Loudoun County judge ordered the unsealing of three misdemeanor indictments by the grand jury against Ziegler. The district’s public information officer, Wayde Byard, was also indicted on a single county of felony perjury.
“From the very beginning, we were determined as parents to not let the Loudoun County school system sweep what happened to our daughter and another parent’s daughter under the rug, as you repeatedly tried to do,” Jessica Smith told the board during her one minute of allotted speaking time. “We are as determined now as we were back then not to remain silent as you wanted us to do. The assault on our daughter and the subsequent assault by the same individual of another young lady were both predictable and preventable. You need to clean house now.”
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The Smiths called on the board and interim Superintendent Daniel Smith to fire multiple people still employed by the school district, including the principals of Stone Bridge and Broad Run high schools, as well as Deputy Superintendent Ashley Ellis and division counsel Robert Falconi.
“You’ve already failed this week,” Scott Smith said. “The principals are still at both schools. That’s your job that should have been handled within minutes of you taking [Scott] Ziegler’s job. Why isn’t it done? Why are those principals still there?”
Scott Smith saved most of his ire for Falconi, whom he addressed directly.
“If there was a law on the book, you would be indicted,” the Loudoun-area father told Falconi. “My attorneys will take you down. We’re not scared of you.”
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Turning his attention back to the board, Scott Smith said that as long as Falconi represents the board’s legal interests, “no truths [are] coming out of this board whatsoever.”
“You guys all need to resign now,” he told the board.