Loudoun County Bathroom Assaults & Cover-Up: Superintendent Lied, Perpetrator Transferred, Second Student Assaulted

A 15-year-old male student sexually assaulted a female student — the daughter of Scott Smith — in the girls’ bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn. Superintendent Scott Ziegler was informed the same day and emailed school board members about the incident.

Stone Bridge Principal Tim Flynn was reminded by an undersheriff that any staff who investigated the allegation could be arrested — effectively chilling the school’s own investigation and ceding investigative responsibility entirely to law enforcement.

At a school board meeting focused on transgender bathroom policies, Superintendent Ziegler publicly stated: “To my knowledge, we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms.” This was false — he had been informed of the Stone Bridge assault and had emailed board members about it.

At the same meeting, Scott Smith, the victim’s father, became enraged after Ziegler’s denial and after a local activist said she did not believe his daughter. Smith was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The image of his arrest was widely circulated nationally.

The perpetrator was charged with two counts of forcible sodomy. Despite these pending felony charges, LCPS did not conduct a threat assessment, did not consider alternative educational placement, and did not initiate a Title IX investigation.

Despite pending felony sexual assault charges, LCPS administrators transferred the perpetrator to Broad Run High School, just a five-minute drive from Stone Bridge. No threat assessment was conducted. No alternative educational placement was considered. The grand jury would later find that LCPS “bears the brunt of the blame” for what happened next.

The same student sexually assaulted another female student at Broad Run High School. This assault was entirely preventable — the perpetrator should never have been transferred to another school while facing felony charges.

The school division finally begins a Title IX investigation into the Broad Run incident on October 14. On October 21, the division begins a Title IX investigation into the original Stone Bridge incident — nearly five months after it occurred. The Virginia Department of Education contacts LCPS, having learned about the criminal charges from news stories rather than from the district’s own required reporting. [WJLA]

The juvenile perpetrator was convicted of the Stone Bridge assault. The judge ordered him to register as a sex offender — a step she said she had never taken with a minor before. He was eventually sentenced to a residential treatment program in a locked-down facility with supervised probation until age 18. The sex offender registration was later overturned.

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin made the Loudoun scandal a central campaign issue and won the Virginia gubernatorial election. School board member Beth Barts resigned on November 2 amid a recall effort. Other board members — including Chair Brenda Sheridan, Ian Serotkin, and Atoosa Reaser — also faced recall petitions.

The 92-page special grand jury report, empaneled by Attorney General Jason Miyares at Governor Youngkin’s direction after hearing 40+ witnesses and reviewing 100+ pieces of evidence, was released. Key findings:

• LCPS “bears the brunt of the blame” for the second sexual assault
• Administrators practiced “intentional institutional amnesia”
• A “culture of fear” prevented key details from becoming public
• Officials “failed at every juncture” to prevent escalation
• A “stunning lack of openness, transparency, and accountability”

The school board voted unanimously to fire Superintendent Scott Ziegler. The special grand jury itself filed zero indictments.

In a separate proceeding, a grand jury indicted Ziegler on three misdemeanor charges (false publication, penalizing an employee for a court appearance, and retaliatory firing of teacher Erin Brooks) and Wayde Byard (longtime public information officer) on one felony count of perjury.

Wayde Byard, the longtime LCPS public information officer, was acquitted by a jury. He remained at LCPS in a reduced role focused on writing projects and retired in December 2023.

On September 29, Scott Ziegler was found guilty of one misdemeanor — the retaliatory firing of teacher Erin Brooks who had testified before the grand jury. The other charges were dropped.

That same month, Governor Youngkin pardoned Scott Smith, the father who had been arrested at the June 2021 school board meeting after his daughter’s assault was denied by Ziegler. Smith also filed a $30 million federal lawsuit against LCPS.

A judge set aside Ziegler’s guilty verdict and ordered a new trial. Attorney General Miyares subsequently dropped the remaining charge against Ziegler.

After three years of legal proceedings, a special grand jury, 40+ witnesses, 100+ pieces of evidence, and a 92-page report documenting systemic failures — there were zero criminal convictions of any LCPS official. Byard was acquitted. Ziegler’s lone conviction was set aside and all remaining charges dropped. The father who tried to speak up was arrested and had to be pardoned by the governor.