Loudoun schools name interim superintendent who vows to rebuild ‘public trust’
Jeremiah Poff
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The Loudoun County school board appointed a new interim superintendent to replace fired Superintendent Scott Ziegler in an emergency meeting Thursday.
In a brief meeting, the board voted to appoint Daniel Smith, the district chief of staff, as the temporary replacement for Ziegler, who was abruptly fired Tuesday after a grand jury report accused him of inadequately responding to a sexual assault in a district high school and later publicly lying about it. The male perpetrator later assaulted another student at another school.
LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD FIRES SUPERINTENDENT AFTER EXPLOSIVE GRAND JURY REPORT
Smith joined the Loudoun superintendent’s office in April, months after the district’s purported missteps in the summer and fall of 2021. He previously worked as a principal at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Fairfax County.
“In making its decision, the Board took into account that Dr. Smith was not involved with the incidents that led to the creation of the Special Grand Jury that released its report Monday,” school board Chairman Jeff Morse said in a statement. “Dr. Smith’s appointment represents the end to what has been a very difficult two years for the community. It is a first step toward restoring community trust in the school division, including the transparency our community deserves.”
The special grand jury was impaneled by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and has not yet been dismissed. In its report, the grand jury said that the actions of Ziegler and other administrators in the aftermath of the first assault at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021 allowed the perpetrator to assault another student at Broad Run High School in October 2021. The student was sentenced to a locked residency program at a psychiatric facility in January.
The board fired Ziegler during a closed-door meeting Tuesday in a unanimous vote.
Ian Prior, a Loudoun activist and the executive director of Fight for Schools, told the Washington Examiner that Smith will be given the “benefit of the doubt” but that “he will be on a short leash with the public, and it will grow shorter if he does not clean house of all the bad actors identified in the grand jury report.”
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“We expect that the school board will involve community leaders in the search for a permanent superintendent,” Prior said. “And we don’t mean the usual woke special interest and advocacy groups that it typically relies on to carry its water in the community.”
The school board intends to find a permanent superintendent by the spring of next year.
As the search continues, Smith said he accepts the challenges of the transition period.
“It is my goal to create a climate that, in the short term, rebuilds public trust and, in the long term, allows the next superintendent to devote their efforts to the most important work schools perform: educating students in a safe environment that allows them to reach their full potential,” Smith said in a statement.