Virginia Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring is facing calls from five former attorneys general of the state to investigate the Loudoun County School Board for its mishandling of the sexual assaults of two female students in the district's high school, which was carried out by a male student who identified as "gender fluid."
In one case, the male student freely entered a girls' bathroom at Stone Ridge High School on May 28, where he committed the crime. Under Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) transgender policies, anyone can access any bathroom they felt their gender identified with. At the time, the male student was wearing a skirt.
According to the Christian Post, five of the most recent Republican attorneys general of Virginia sent a letter to Herring, demanding that he "immediately open an investigation" into "the sexual assault scandal that's plaguing the Loudoun County School Board." The attorneys general also decried a newly enacted measure that they believe "told local school systems not to report sexual assaults."
Republican former attorneys general Jim Gilmore, Mark Earley, Jerry Kilgore, Robert McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli signed the letter. The group of AGs, who had spent a combined total of almost 20 years as the top law enforcement in Virginia, argued that "the Loudoun County School Superintendent and the School Board chose not to report two sexual assaults to parents."
This is in spite of the fact that Loudoun County Superintendent of Schools Scott Ziegler informed the board members that "a female student alleged that a male student sexually assaulted her in the restroom" on the very same day he sent the email: May 28.
Three weeks later, Ziegler came under fire during a school board meeting in which he and the school board not only denied knowing about any sexual assault cases in the school district, but went on to tell parents, "To my knowledge, we don't have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms."
When the female victim's parent, Scott Smith, spoke out during an LCPS meeting, he was arrested for disorderly conduct. The school district then defended their actions in addressing Smith and handling the sexual assault case of his daughter, but parents rose up and demanded further action.
The former Virginia attorneys general argued in the letter that Herring "should've stepped in once the horrific facts surfaced demonstrating that the Superintendent and the School Board knew of the assaults yet did nothing," claiming that Loudoun County and Herrings's inactions "demonstrate a pattern of indifference toward sexual assaults."
Meanwhile, Loudoun County parents demanded the resignation of Ziegler in this week's Tuesday board meeting, Fox News reported. Several parents came to the meeting to blast the entire school board, with one parent named Erin Dunbar accusing Ziegler of "gross negligence."
Carrie Michon, whose grandchildren are from Loudoun County, told the board, "You have buried a sexual assault to protect your precious 8040 policy," referring to LCPS' transgender policies. Another parent, Amanda Shallott called for Ziegler's immediate resignation, as well as that of members who "had knowledge of the rape this spring."
Loudoun County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Chief Judge Pamela Brooks has found the male student in question guilty of two charges of sexual assault.
