Loudoun County Public Schools

Loudoun County School Board Fires Superintendent Following Grand Jury Report on Sex Assaults

A special grand jury said Superintendent Scott Ziegler lied about one of the sexual assaults at a school board meeting in 2021

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The Loudoun County School Board voted unanimously to immediately fire Superintendent Scott Ziegler during a closed session Tuesday, a day after a special grand jury report detailed failures with how the school district handled two sexual assaults involving the same student.

Wayde Byard, spokesperson for Loudoun County Public Schools, confirmed the firing to News4 Wednesday morning. Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Koran Saines said the school board’s vote was unanimous.

A student sexually assaulted a female student at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021, but was allowed to transfer to Broad Run High School, where he abducted and sexually assaulted another female student in October of 2021. The teen was later convicted in juvenile court.

In its report released Monday, the grand jury accuses Ziegler of lying about the assault at a school board meeting in June 2021, after the first assault occurred.

"Fire him. Fire him today. Fire him tonight. I don't know what else to say if you read that report, you can't come up with anything else. Fire Dr. Ziegler," Chair At-Large of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Phyllis Randall said at the Tuesday meeting.

"The school board vote to terminate the employment of Dr. Ziegler with the Loudoun County School Board, without cause, effective immediately," Loudoun County School Board Chair Jeff Morse said.

Termination "without cause" is significant because Ziegler's contract with LCPS stipulates that he receive one year of severance totaling $337,000 if he is fired without cause.

As the school board debated policies governing transgender students and whether they can use the restroom of their preference, a school board member asked Ziegler if the schools had a problem with sexual assaults occurring in bathrooms.

Ziegler responded that “to my knowledge we don't have any record of assaults in our restrooms.” But emails show that Ziegler had been informed of the Stone Bridge assault and in fact had sent an email to board members informing them of the incident.

The Loudoun County School Board fired Superintendent Scott Ziegler was fired after a grand jury released a report saying the school system "bears the brunt of the blame" in the sex assault of a high school student. News4’s Juliana Valencia and Northern Virginia Bureau report have team coverage.

In October of that year, Ziegler said he misinterpreted the school board member's question, apologized to victims and their families and outlined a number of policy change proposals regarding the investigations of sex assaults.

Calls to oust Ziegler appear to have simmered since that school board meeting, which devolved into chaos. A victim's mother is heard on cellphone video telling the crowd what happened.

Behind her, officers could be seen detaining the victim's father.

“My child was raped at school! " she said.

The family said they were provoked by other parents.

Weeks later, students walked out of Broad Run High School, Riverside High School and Stone Bridge High School over concerns about how sexual assaults and how the school handled the attacks.

“Loudoun County protects rapists,” a group of students chanted outside Broad Run High.

The grand jury also said in its report that Loudoun County Public Schools "bears the brunt of the blame" for the second sexual assault and allowing the boy to transfer schools after the first attack.

School system administrators looked out for their own interests rather than the best interests of the school district throughout their handling of the cases, the grand jury said.

Ziegler was appointed superintendent for the county school system in June 2021 after serving as interim superintendent since January of that year.

The school board said it will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday night to name an interim superintendent.

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