'Invasion of privacy': Loudoun County students walk out, demand school district restore girls-only and boys-only restrooms



Loudoun County high school students staged a walkout Wednesday, demanding that the district restore girls-only and boys-only restrooms and locker rooms, WJLA-TV reported.

A group of students at Woodgrove High School walked out of class this week to protest a district-wide measure, Policy 8040, that allows non-binary and trans-identifying individuals to use the restroom and locker room facilities that align with their gender identity instead of their biology.

High school students in Loudoun County gathered today to ask the Loudoun County School Board to restore girls only and boys only locker rooms and bathrooms in schools. @7NewsDC
— (@)

The policy, "Rights of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students," was adopted by the Loudoun County School Board in 2021 after a 7-2 vote.

"Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) is committed to providing an equitable, safe and inclusive learning environment for all students," the policy states.

School staff are required to "allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their consistently asserted gender identity without any substantiating evidence, regardless of the name and gender recorded in the student's permanent educational record," the policy continued. "Inadvertent slips in the use of names or pronouns may occur; however, staff or students who intentionally and persistently refuse to respect a student's gender identity by using the wrong name and gender pronoun are in violation of this policy."

Trans-identifying students must be allowed to participate in school activities that align with their chosen gender identity, it adds.

On Wednesday morning, approximately 50 to 100 students walked out of the high school in protest against the policy.

Demonstrators held signs that read, "Restore girls only and boys only locker rooms, showers & bathrooms!"

"Overturn Policy 8040," other signs read.

Video of the demonstration showed students singing the national anthem.

"In the locker rooms in the morning it's an invasion of privacy, as I said, because when men and natural-born males are in our locker rooms and they are showering in the morning, natural-born females can walk in there as they please," a male high school student told WJLA. "And that is not OK. And it goes against what we believe in."

Another male student told the outlet, "I would like to be able when I get off football practice and go put my pads away and change not feel uncomfortable with other genders in there watching me."

"I feel that girls feel the same way about the situation. How would you feel if you were a female changing with a male?" he asked.

A third male student called it "very uncomfortable" to use the restroom and locker room facilities with the current policy in place.

One female student told WJLA that many girls, including herself, have stopped using the school's restrooms due to safety concerns. She claimed that the district has been ignoring the girls' fears.

"It should be the entire school [walking out]," one student told the outlet.

"But there are a lot of people who are scared to speak out against it, so they stayed inside because they don't want to see the backlash," another student chimed in.

In a statement to WJLA, the district said, "The Loudoun County School Board is continuing to follow its established process in its review of the latest Model Policies issued by the Virginia Department of Education. Policy 8040 is in review along with the new Model Policies, by the Student Services Committee."

Students reportedly told the news outlet that teachers had discouraged the walkout despite previously encouraging students to participate in a 2022 pro-LGBTQ+ walkout to protest Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.

In 2021, a female student was sexually assaulted by a skirt-wearing male in a girls' restroom at an LCPS school.

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'Mob attack' in high school included crying, trampled teachers and 'kids jumping off the second-story balcony,' parent says



A "mob attack" inside a Virginia high school late last month included crying, trampled teachers and "kids jumping off the second-story balcony," one parent told WJLA-TV.

Police charged seven students after the fight in Manassas Park High School, WUSA-TV reported, adding that the nature of the charges is unclear.

What are the details?

The March 23 incident started when two students got into a physical altercation in a hallway during a class change, and other students became involved as well, WJLA said.

Staff members and a school resource officer quickly responded to the melee, and school administrators called police, WJLA said. Manassas Park City Schools told the station all the involved students were disciplined.

However, parent Jessica Martinez shared videos with WJLA of what she said was a "horrible" mob-style fight featuring teachers "crying, being trampled on" and "kids jumping off the second-story balcony" to get away from the fight. The station said students can be seen in videos yelling and pushing each other to get out of the way while students also were seen holding each other back from fighting.

.@7NewsDC @ida_domingo_: 7 students charged after what some parents say was a 'mob attack' at Manassas Park High School in Northern Virginia:https://wjla.com/news/local/manassas-park-high-school-parent-concerned-mob-attack-fight-police-investigation\u00a0\u2026
— Kevin Olivas (@Kevin Olivas) 1648919752

Martinez added to the station that "my daughter called me from school upset" saying that she "and her friends were backed into a corner and couldn't get away from the fight in fear of getting hit."

She also told WJLA that school officials didn't email parents on the day of the incident; instead Martinez said she called the school that day to ask why parents weren't immediately notified and "their excuse was the school was still investigating."

Martinez told the station Principal Charles Forres emailed the community the following day, March 24.

"When I’m at work, I trust that my child is safe at school with no worries," she told WJLA. "If I hadn’t asked why we weren’t notified, who knows If we would have ever received an email."

Martinez added to the station that she kept her daughter home the next day because she was afraid to go to school.

What did the school district have to say?

"We take these matters very seriously, and we are committed to providing a safe and secure learning environment for our students," the district said in a statement to WJLA.

The letter sent to the community read, in part, that "because it was during class change, many students witnessed the altercation that took place outside of the library. It was brought to our attention that several students recorded the incident and may have shared it on social media. Staff members immediately intervened, and school administration contacted the Manassas Park Police Department. We actively worked with them to issue disciplinary action for all involved students based on our Code of Conduct. I want the community to know that we are aware of this incident, and we are working to address those involved."

Loudoun County schools chief of staff no longer has job after handling of sexual assault cases



The chief of staff for Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia no longer has a job following accusations that the school district violated Title IX by failing to conduct a timely investigation of multiple sexual assaults.

LCPS told Fox News in a statement Wednesday that the chief of staff position once held by Mark Smith is now "vacant." It is not immediately clear why Smith, who was also the school district's Title IX coordinator, is no longer in the position, whether he resigned or was fired.

An unnamed school board member told WJLA-TV that Smith "is gone" because he failed to meet certain "obligations" under Title IX, a federal statute that bans discrimination based on sex.

"He had obligations under Title IX and they weren’t met. He was not a Title IX expert, but it was his job,” the school board member reportedly said. "Someone had to pay and it was him."

The school board member said LCPS is looking to hire someone with Title IX experience following two sexual assaults at two different schools in Loudoun County. @7NewsDc
— Nick Minock (@Nick Minock) 1642607139

The school district is being tight-lipped about the situation. WJLA reporter Scott Taylor said that LCPS Public Information Officer Wayde Byard hung up the phone on him twice while he was trying to confirm Smith's departure.

Earlier today I was hung up on twice by Wayde Byard, Public Information Officer at Loudoun County Public Schools. Byard refused to say who is the District\u2019s current Chief of Staff. Last week it was Mark Smith. Byard said no comment if Smith is still employed. @7NewsDCpic.twitter.com/HjWkYIUb9e
— Scott Taylor 7 News I-Team (@Scott Taylor 7 News I-Team) 1642607587

Fox News reported that a LCPS web page previously listing Smith as the chief of staff was removed Wednesday.

WJLA reported that the school district is seeking to hire someone with Title IX experience.

The alleged Title IX violations are related to two sexual assaults of students at LCPS schools that were first reported by the Daily Wire and later confirmed by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department.

The first assault took place in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School on May 18, 2021. Police arrested a 14-year-old male suspect on charges of one felony count of forcible sodomy and one felony count of forcible fellatio after an investigation. The same suspect was later charged with crimes related to a second assault at Broad Run High School on Oct. 6.

Last week the suspect, now 15, was found responsible for the crimes and sentenced to a juvenile treatment facility. The court required him to register as a sex offender for life.

The school district did not disclose the sexual assaults to the public before the Daily Wire revealed what happened in its report. At a school board meeting one month after the first incident, Superintendent Scott Ziegler publicly denied that there was any record of sexual assaults taking place in school bathrooms at a contentious school board meeting where he spoke in favor of a policy that would let transgender students use the bathroom of their preference.

Outraged parents accused LCPS of covering up the sexual assaults in schools. Ziegler later apologized and claimed that federal Title IX rules prevented the schools from conducting their own investigation into the incident until police had finished their investigation.

According to the Daily Wire, this claim was contested by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, which has said, "Although a school division may need to delay temporarily the fact-finding portion of a Title IX investigation while the police are gathering evidence, once notified that the police department has completed its gathering of evidence (not the ultimate outcome of the investigation or the filing of any charges), the school division must promptly resume and complete its fact-finding for the Title IX investigation." Federal law also requires that a school is "obligated to conclude a grievance process within a reasonably prompt time frame."

Ian Prior, executive director of the parents' advocacy group Fight for Schools, said in a press release that Smith's departure shows LCPS violated Title IX in its handling of the sexual assault.

“We have been saying for months that Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX and this report confirms that,” Prior said Wednesday. "While it is a positive development to see that LCPS is taking action, the fact remains that the buck stopped with Superintendent Scott Ziegler and the former leadership of the school board.”

“Ziegler remaining while his subordinates take the fall only further diminishes the trust in LCPS leadership, particularly when there is a publicly funded 'independent' report on the failures of LCPS that Ziegler refuses to release to the public,” he added.

On Tuesday, an independent report on how LCPS handled the sexual assault cases was completed, but officials said the report will not be released to the public.

Byard told WJLA that Virginia law and attorney-client privilege prevent the school district from releasing that information.

"The report is complete. It is being withheld from disclosure in its entirety under Va. Code 2.2-3705.1(2) relating to materials protected under the attorney-client privilege. Furthermore, portions of the record are being withheld from disclosure under. Code 2.2-3705.4(A)(1) relating to scholastic information and Va. Code 2.2-3705.1(1) relating to personnel information concerning identifiable individuals," he said in an email to WJLA.

"Of course, they are not going to release what happened," Scott Smith, the father of the teenage girl who was assaulted at Stone Bridge High School last May, said.

"What happened is horrific," he told WJLA. "There are so many high-up players involved in this cover-up. It’s just unbelievable."

Parents are outraged that students at a Loudoun County high school were given a survey asking for details about their sex lives



Parents of students in the Loudoun Valley High School are outraged after finding out their children were given a survey asking for details about their sex lives without parent notification or consent.

The incident is only the newest in a series of controversies that have erupted at Loudoun County Public Schools.

The school in Purcellville, Virginia, said that about 180 students were given the survey and about 90 of them completed it. The survey is designed to be optional and anonymous.

The state guidelines for the Virginia Youth Survey says that parents should be given a 30-day notice of the survey before it is administered so that they can review it and opt out their child. That guidance was not followed at Loudoun Valley High.

WJLA-TV interviewed one parent who said her 14-year-old daughter texted her while she took the survey and said that she was uncomfortable answering some of the questions. The mother, who asked to remain unidentified, told her daughters to skip the survey, but added that the "damage had already been done, the innocence lost."

WJLA documented some of the more problematic questions on the survey:

  • During your life, with whom have you had sexual contact?
  • Have you ever had sexual intercourse?
  • During your life, with how many people have you had sexual intercourse?

Loudoun Valley High School Assistant Principal Bill Gulgert apologized to parents about the incident. He said that the data collected in the survey would be "removed" and not used. He added that the school "respects the right of parents to be notified in such matters."

WJLA reported that other areas were administering the same survey, including Fairfax County, City of Alexandria, and Prince William County.

Here's the local news clip about the sex survey:

Some parents in Loudoun County weren\u2019t notified their children were taking a survey that asks students details about their sex life & more. \n\nSome parents tell @7NewsDC they are livid and sickened. \n\nStory: https://wjla.com/news/local/livid-sickened-some-parents-not-notified-of-survey-asking-kids-about-their-sex-life-loudoun-county-purcellville-va-youth-survey\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/KK5vLa2icl

— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) 1637109180