A special grand jury is investigating the Loudoun County school board in Virginia for its handling of a sexual assault case last year.
The northern Virginia school board has vowed to cooperate with all “lawful requests” from the grand jury, which comes nearly a year after the board was first notified of a sexual assault of a female student by a male student in the girls bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia.
The board has been accused of covering up the May assault after it allowed the perpetrator of the assault to attend a different district high school, where a second assault occurred.
“LCPS intends to cooperate with the lawful requests of the special grand jury, while protecting the privacy rights of our students to the extent permitted by law and in accordance with all applicable legal privileges,” the district said.
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The existence of the grand jury was first revealed by a reporter for Loudoun Now and follows a January executive order by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on his first day in office that directed state Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate the board’s handling of the assault.
Multiple sources have confirmed that a special grand jury has been convened re: the investigation into the Loudoun County School Board’s handling of multiple sexual assaults in LCPS high schools #loudoun #lcps
— Hayley Milon Bour (@HayleyMilon) April 13, 2022
A spokesperson for Miyares said the attorney general’s office “cannot comment on ongoing investigations.”
In a statement, the district touted several actions taken since the assault, including hiring a full-time Title IX coordinator and establishing a “more robust process for alternative school placements.”
“LCPS has audited harassment and discrimination complaints raised over the past school year to ensure that such complaints have been addressed appropriately, and LCPS has provided, and will continue to provide, additional training to staff to reinforce the understanding of their obligations when they receive allegations of sexual harassment or assault,” the district said.
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The father of the first assault victim, Scott Smith, told the Daily Wire in an interview that he hopes the grand jury will also look into the local prosecutor, the sheriff’s department, and the county board of supervisors.
“The fact that they’re dragging the community through this coverup for a year, maybe that is criminal,” Smith said. “I think what they’re going to find is that Loudoun is a very rich, powerful, controlled cartel by both sides, and the corruption is huge.”
