Grand jury has convened in Loudoun County trans student rape case to determine if school officials should face charges



A special grand jury has convened to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against officials in Loudoun County, Virginia, who stand accused of covering up multiple sexual assaults committed against female students by a biological male transgender classmate last year.

The formation of the grand jury, which is a regular pretrial process, was first reported by Loudoun Now journalist Hayley Milon Bour on Wednesday.

Multiple sources have confirmed that a special grand jury has been convened re: the investigation into the Loudoun County School Board's handling of multiple sexual assaults in LCPS high schools #loudoun #lcps
— Hayley Milon Bour (@Hayley Milon Bour) 1649812304

Outrage over the district's alleged cover-up of the assaults drew national headlines last year after the father of the first victim was arrested during a raucous school board meeting where parents had gathered to protest critical race theory and transgender-affirming policies pushed by the district.

Following his arrest, the father, Scott Smith, decided to speak out more publicly and provided detail about the incident in an interview with the Daily Wire. Smith said that his 15-year-old daughter was attacked in the women's restroom of Stone Bridge High School by a boy in a skirt amid the district's embrace of preferred gender bathroom use.

The boy in question was later found guilty on one felony count of forcible sodomy and one felony count of forcible fellatio for his assault against Smith's daughter. Yet, according to Smith, the district originally decided to handle things "in-house" and quietly transferred the boy to another school in the county so as to avoid negative press.

Tragically, while at the other school, Broad Run High, the student assaulted another female classmate and was found guilty on one felony count of abduction and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery.

Since the very start, onlookers have accused Loudoun County Public Schools of being intentionally misleading about the incident. In January, the progressive school board sparked further backlash when announcing it would not release a taxpayer-funded report documenting the incidents in order to protect the privacy of the families involved.

Then in January, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin — who was elected to office late last year riding a wave of hostility against progressive school boards — issued an executive order initiating an investigation into Loudoun County officials over their handling of the sexual assault incidents.

In response to the latest new of a grand jury's convening, the district put out a statement insisting "it intends to cooperate with the lawful requests of the special grand jury, while protecting the privacy rights of our students to the extent permitted by law and in accordance with all applicable legal privileges."

following the news, @lcps just released the following statement:pic.twitter.com/NObIKViRbT
— Hayley Milon Bour (@Hayley Milon Bour) 1649861702

The district added that in response to the incidents, it has taken "several steps to help protect our students from such incidents happening in the future. LCPS has expanded the size and scope of our Title IX office by hiring a full-time Title IX Coordinator and additional investigative staff, [and] expanded our Office of Division Counsel to better assist staff with issues relating to legal compliance."

Loudoun County schools under investigation www.youtube.com

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Without notifying parents, Loudoun high school asked students if they are transgender and how much they have sex

The school failed to notify parents before asking students as young as 12 about their sexual activity, drug use, and sex 'identities.'

Why These Parents, Students, And Protesters Are Standing Up To The Loudoun County School Board

Parents, students, and other protesters at the Loudoun County School Board meeting told me why they're speaking out against the board's actions.

Loudoun County schools accused of failing to report multiple alleged sexual assaults over several years, in apparent violation of the law



Already under fire for allegedly concealing two sexual assaults from the public, Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia is now accused of failing to report multiple known incidents of alleged sexual assault in schools despite a state law that requires such reporting.

Virginia law mandates that "Reports shall be made to the division superintendent and to the principal or his designee on all incidents involving … sexual assault."

But according to the Daily Wire, LCPS has in at least three instances failed to report statistics on sexual assaults to a public database administered by the Virginia Department of Education that was set up so that schools can comply with the law.

Earlier this week, the Daily Wire first reported that school officials in Loudoun County never disclosed to the public that a ninth-grade girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a gender-fluid male student in a school restroom in May. This same male student allegedly assaulted another girl at a different school later in October, the Daily Wire reported.

A 15-year-old male student has been charged in two alleged sexual assaults in Loudoun County schools, one in May and one in October.

Though the school now acknowledges that the incidents occurred, the Daily Wire found that LCPS reported to the state database that Stone Bridge High School had zero sexual assaults for the 2020-21 school year, which includes May 28, 2021, the date of the first alleged assault.

Also, the school failed to report a case from October 2018 in which three football players at Tuscorara High School were arrested and charged with sexual assault. The case, which was widely publicized at the time, involved a younger player who was "held down by teammates who inserted objects into the victim" in a locker room. That year, Tuscorara did not report any instances of sexual offenses against students to Virginia's public database, as required by law.

It is unknown how many other cases of sexual assault have gone unreported by LCPS.

A spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education told the Daily Wire, "VDOE is reviewing the discipline, crime and violence data submissions of Loudoun County Public Schools and is in communication with LCPS to determine whether the division's reporting is accurate and whether the division is in compliance with state and federal law."

It's possible that LSPS Superintendent Scott Ziegler could be held personally responsible if the school district did not follow the law.

Virginia law states: "The division superintendent shall annually report all such incidents to the Department of Education for the purpose of recording the frequency of such incidents on forms that shall be provided by the Department and shall make such information available to the public."

The law also says, "A division superintendent who knowingly fails to comply or secure compliance with the reporting requirements of this subsection shall be subject to the sanctions authorized in § 22.1-65. A principal who knowingly fails to comply or secure compliance with the reporting requirements of this section shall be subject to sanctions prescribed by the local school board, which may include, but need not be limited to, demotion or dismissal."

LCPS denied that school board members had knowledge of the "specific details" of the May 28 incident until it was reported by media outlets this week. But it seems unlikely that the superintendent was unaware of what happened, given that the incident was reported to police and an investigation was opened. Over the summer, during debate on a proposed policy to permit transgender students to use whichever restroom they want, school officials told the public that there was no record of sexual assaults in restrooms at any Loudoun County school.

"To my knowledge, we don't have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms," Ziegler said during a June 22 school board meeting.

But three weeks earlier, on May 28, Loudoun County resident Scott Smith says his daughter was sexually assaulted in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School. Both the Loudoun County sheriff's office and a statement from LCPS confirmed that police were contacted after an incident at the school. While the school district has refused to discuss details of the incident since it involved minors, the sheriff's office told Fox News the case "involved sexual assault."

"Loudoun County Sheriff's Office was contacted within minutes of receiving the initial report on May 28. Once a matter has been reported to law enforcement, LCPS does not begin its investigation until law enforcement advises LCPS that it has completed the criminal investigation," LCPS said in a statement on Wednesday, after public outcry against school officials based on the Daily Wire's reporting.

"Furthermore, LCPS is prohibited from disciplining any student without following the Title IX grievance process, which includes investigating complaints of sexual harassment and sexual assault," the district said.

Viral video shows irate parent screaming at Virginia school board for continuing to keep students out of school. His remarks stun them into silence.



An irate parent has gone viral overnight after confronting Virginia's Loudoun County School Board for keeping its students out of schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aliscia Andrews, former Republican nominee for Virginia's 10th District, shared the video on Twitter, where it exploded.

What are the details?

Andrews — also a Marine veteran — shared the video late Tuesday night and captioned it, "As a parent, this pandemic has brought forth some incredible challenges. This dad has had enough, we all have. No real metrics to safely open the schools, while the [school board] continues to kick the can further down the road. Many parents feel just as he does. #LCPS #openschools[.]"

In the video, a masked dad be seen addressing the school board.

He calmly begins, "You should all be fired from your day jobs, because if your employers knew that you were more inefficient than the DMV, you would be replaced in a heartbeat. I literally just finished a conference call because I'm having to multitask to be here to address you guys. You're a bunch of cowards hiding behind our children as an excuse for keeping schools closed. You think you're some sort of martyrs because of the decisions you're making when the statistics do not lie that the vast majority of the population is not at risk from this virus."

Becoming further angered, the unnamed parent began shouting.

"The garbage workers who pick up my freaking trash risk their lives every day more than anyone in this school system! Figure it out! Or get off the podium!" he screamed. "Because you know what? There are people like me and a line of other people out there who will gladly take your seat and figure it out! It's not a high bar! Raise the freaking bar!"

After finishing his rant, he left the podium, stunning the board members into dead silence.

"I'm gonna give staff an opportunity to make sure that, um, the podium and microphone had been — " an unnamed woman in the room can be heard saying as the man — off camera at this point — responds, "Please wipe it down ahead of time ... we don't want anything to infect us."

The woman responds, "Your time is finished; can you please leave the boardroom?"

As he exits the room, he can be heard saying, "I'll be back next time. And the next time — till you open the freaking schools!"

As a parent, this pandemic has brought forth some incredible challenges. This dad has had enough, we all have. No… https://t.co/UKxJENQzmM
— Aliscia Andrews (@Aliscia Andrews)1611702890.0

What else?

On Tuesday, WTOP-TV reported that the school board is set to vote next Tuesday on a plan that would have students pre-K through fifth grade — whose parents chose hybrid learning — back in school buildings no later than Feb. 16.

"If approved," the station reported, "middle and high schoolers whose parents have already opted into the model would return to classrooms for two days per week by March 3."

In December, a spike in COVID-19 cases prompted the district to return to 100% remote learning. No children have been permitted to attend in-school classes since.

The station reported that more than 6,000 Loudoun County teachers have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

A report from WJLA-TV notes that that number is expected to climb to approximately 8,700 by the week's end.

Superintendent Dr. Scott Ziegler later in the meeting implored people to have patience over the situation.

"I just like to remind folks in all of my discussions surrounding COVID-19, whether it be with teachers or principals or board members or parents, that we really need to come at this from a place where we are operating with patience, with flexibility, with comfort of the not-yet-known, and with grace," he said. "We can have a differing of opinions, but we can express those opinions and express our thoughts on what the plan is moving forward."

What are teachers saying?

WJLA reported that the Loudoun Education Association is "pushing back" against the school board's proposed timeline.

"What the Loudoun Education Association wants is for all employees who wish to be vaccinated to have both vaccinations before they go back [to school]," the organization's president said in a statement. "This vaccine is not a one-shot deal."

The president added, "This idea of moving students in the buildings now will slow down the vaccination process, because school nurses are administering the vaccines. And when school buildings are open, school nurses need to be in the building."

Ziegler has said that just 500 district employees will have received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by mid-February.