Loudoun County Public Schools fired superintendent Scott Ziegler after a grand jury investigation slammed the district’s handling of sexual assaults by a student.
After a two-hour closed session, the board voted unanimously Tuesday to fire Ziegler immediately and without cause.
The decision to fire the superintendent without cause will allow him to receive his full $323,000 annual salary and compensation, such as a $12,000 annual vehicle allowance, health insurance, and retirement benefits, according to Loudoun Now.
As Breitbart News reported, the special grand jury, empaneled by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), found that the board was derelict in its duty to students and failed to cooperate with a special grand jury investigation, saying administrators “failed at every juncture.”
In May and October of 2021, a male student sexually assaulted two female students in the district. The perpetrator was allowed merely to change schools after the initial assault — at Stone Bridge High School — and the skirt-clad male reportedly sodomized a ninth-grade girl.
Administrators in the district were self-interested, according to the report, which alleges that the second assault — at Broad Run High School — could have been prevented.
Protesters and activists hold signs as they stand outside a Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) board meeting in Ashburn, Virginia, on October 12, 2021. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“It’s unfortunate that it took a special grand jury report for anyone to take any action,” Jessica Smith, the mother of the Stone Bridge victim said. “The firing of Ziegler was way overdue and we hope this is the first of many firings of all those who failed these young women who now have to deal with what happened to them for the rest of their lives.”
After the grand jury’s findings were released, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors chair Phyllis Randall (D) called on Zeigler to be fired, saying, “I’m not dancing around this. We had a young woman violently raped and another one assaulted, and this was for all intents and purposes, on his part, a coverup.”
Some school board members appeared to take an “unseemly” and “callous” “victory lap” after the findings were released, applauding themselves for having no criminal charges, Supervisor Kristin C. Umstattd (D) said.
Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.
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