EXCLUSIVE — A conservative
legal group
is demanding that the
Department of Education
initiate a
Title IX
investigation into Loudoun County Public Schools over its response to
two sexual assaults
that occurred in the school district in 2021.
In a Wednesday letter to Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon, America First Legal senior adviser Ian Prior urged the department to investigate the school district, a month after a Virginia special grand jury blasted the school district for failing to properly respond to the two assaults, which occurred in district high schools in 2021.
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“The special grand jury found that the sexual assault at Broad Run High School ‘could have, and should have, been prevented,'” Prior wrote. “Unfortunately, Loudoun County Public Schools, at a minimum, acted with deliberate indifference to allegations of sexual assault and harassment and willfully ignored its obligations under Title IX in dealing with that victim’s assailant.”
The grand jury was impaneled by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares last year. In addition to the lengthy report, the grand jury also indicted former district Superintendent Scott Ziegler on multiple misdemeanor charges related to the handling of the assaults. The district’s public information officer was also charged with perjury.
Prior said the school district continues to maintain inadequate Title IX procedures, calling them “woefully deficient under the law.”
“It is imperative that this be remedied to protect students and prevent further situations like those that occurred at Stone Bridge and Broad Run High Schools,” Prior wrote. “Accordingly, we ask that the Department promptly open an investigation into the allegations in the complaint, take all actions necessary to remedy the unlawful practices and procedures, and order all appropriate relief.”
Following the release of the grand jury report, which contained a number of recommended changes to district policy, the school board fired then-Superintendent Ziegler. At the first public meeting after the release of the report, the board discussed adopting the recommendations “to further ensure the safety and care of all LCPS staff and students and restore trust within our community.”
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In a press release statement, Prior, who also runs the political action committee Fight for Schools, blasted Loudoun County Public Schools, saying the school district is “synonymous with all that is wrong with the education system in America.”
“Instead of focusing on policies, regulation, and procedures to provide students with a safe environment where they can thrive and achieve excellence, public school systems like this one are far more concerned with enacting political agendas and treating parents and the rule of law as mere inconveniences that can be ignored,” he said. “It is the obligation of the Department of Education to enforce Title IX. There is no school district in America more deserving of scrutiny than Loudoun County Public Schools.“
The Washington Examiner reached out to Loudoun County Public Schools for comment.
