Loudoun4All Statement Regarding Alleged Sexual Assault Cases at LCPS
Update 10/28/2021 - We have updated our Facts and Needed Reform google doc to include much more detailed information about the recent sexual assault cases. You can find that doc here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rG7tTmqL4YANnx34UxAoTT0u6LZ2sDbD/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105518449249644489437&rtpof=true&sd=true.
Loudoun County, VA —As parents and as community members we are horrified, dismayed, and deeply saddened to hear of the assaults that took place at Loudoun County High Schools this year and how they were handled. When this level of outrage is felt, it is easy to direct that anger at convenient scapegoats. It is critical to understand how the current systems are designed, and most importantly, how they failed. Only then can we channel our outrage to transform the current systems and bring in real, meaningful reform.
Our hearts stand with the student victims and with all victims of assault, inside and outside of our schools. Loudoun4All demands full transparency from Loudoun County Public Schools and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office regarding reported sexual assaults. We call for the protection of the victims and their families to the fullest extent under the law. We believe all students should be safe and free from violence and trauma at schools and school functions.
It is distasteful that many in our community would like to use the recent assaults for political purposes that further divides our county when we should be coming together in defense of our children. Assault on Loudoun’s young people is not a political issue. Our thoughts are with the students whose pain is being exploited in this way. We call on the community to come together toward the common purpose of enacting change that will better protect all our children.
We also recommit to affirmation of trans and gender-expansive individuals, including youth in our schools. We stand against any bigotry or violence toward LGBT+ members of our community. Rape is abhorrent, and we need to be protecting all our students from assault. But recent events only highlight the need to offer equal protections to our LGBT youth. We hope that the Loudoun community can come together to shine a light on issues of consent, bodily autonomy, violence, and sexual assault.
It is essential that we gather the facts and make sure we are directing our anger and our efforts for change in the proper direction. We ask that the community come together in demanding that Loudoun County Public School and the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office are transparent about where our current policies went wrong and what is being done to protect students in the future.
Update: 10/14/2021:
Loudoun4All’s mission is to mobilize to create an equitable community for all who call Loudoun County home. To that end, we have compiled a list of facts regarding the sexual assault cases at LCPS that have been in the news this week. Below you’ll find certain pertinent facts pulled from the much more comprehensive google doc, which will be updated as more facts come to light. We hope that this compilation will help the community understand the chain of events, as well as the systemic change that needs to happen in order to protect our children in schools.
LCSO confirmed that a May 28 report with "Offense: Forcible Sodomy [and] Sexual Battery" at Stone Bridge High School does exist, but it is not public record.
LCPS and LCSO say that a two-month-long investigation was conducted by LCSO to determine the facts of the case prior to arrest. The Commonwealth Attorney says that until DNA evidence could be processed, they could not make the arrest or they would risk losing the case.
The LCPS School Board issued a statement stating that LCPS was advised by law enforcement not to conduct any interviews or investigation until after the LCSO had completed their investigation. A School Board member stated that schools are prohibited from disciplining a student without following the federally mandated Title IX grievance process, enacted by the previous Federal Department of Education administration.
At the June 22 school board meeting, then Interim Superintendent Scott Ziegler declared that “we” don’t have any records of assaults happening in our restrooms.
A second incident of assault occurred at Broad Run High School on October 6, where a student was forced into an empty classroom and assaulted.
A WTOP article says the assailant was the same in both cases.
The father of the first victim was arrested at the June 22nd School Board Meeting. Sources say he was in an argument with a woman. When he became highly agitated, he was removed from the meeting and subsequently arrested. He was taken to the Adult Detention Center and charged with the two misdemeanors.
We have found no reliable source claiming the student was transgender or identifies as gender fluid.