Education

Loudoun County School Board Terminates Superintendent Who Oversaw Multiple Assaults

(Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Chrissy Clark Contributor
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A Virginia school board unanimously voted to fire Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler following a report from a special grand jury, the Daily Caller confirmed.

The Loudoun County School Board fired Ziegler “immediately and without cause,” according to a report from Loudoun Now. Ziegler will reportedly receive his $323,000 annual salary in monthly installments for the next year.

Ziegler’s termination came shortly after a special grand jury report concluded that the public school district “dropped the ball” on student safety after multiple sexual assaults took place in the district. LCPS prioritized the interests of district administrators over the safety of students, according to the special grand jury’s findings.

“LCPS administrators were looking out for their own interests instead of the interests of LCPS. This invariably led to a stunning lack of openness, transparency, and accountability both to the public and the special grand jury,” according to the report.

The grand jury was tasked with investigating the school district’s handling of two sexual assaults committed by one student. A male student attacked a girl in a bathroom at one high school and was promptly transferred to a second high school, within the district, where he attacked another girl in an empty classroom.

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall told Loudoun Now that Ziegler needed to be fired.

“Let me say this as clearly as possible: Dr. Scott Ziegler needs to be fired,” Randall said. “I’m not dancing around this. We had a young woman violently raped and another one assaulted, and this was for all intents and purposes, on his part, a coverup.” (RELATED: Special Grand Jury Concludes Loudoun County Public Schools ‘Dropped The Ball’ On Student Safety)

The school district responded by telling the Daily Caller they were “pleased” that the grand jury’s “extensive investigation found no evidence of criminal conduct on the part of anyone within LCPS.”

Another member of the Board of Supervisors ridiculed the response as a “victory lap” that was “unseemly” and “callous,” according to Loudoun Now.

Under Ziegler’s leadership, Loudoun County Public Schools saw an increase in “critical race theory” inspired teachings across the district. The district approved hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on critical race theory-inspired curriculum and surveys, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon.

“I’m happy Ziegler was fired,” parent and activist Scott Mineo told the Daily Caller. “It’s a shame that it took a rape, a sexual assault, and a grand jury investigation for it to happen, but here we are. It’s a start.”