Ex-Loudoun Superintendent Found Guilty of Retaliating against Teacher Who Spoke Out about Sex Assault

A jury on Friday found former Loudoun County superintendent Scott Ziegler guilty of retaliating against a teacher for cooperating with Virginia’s grand jury probe into the district’s alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases.

Ziegler wrongfully terminated a special education teacher who had informed investigators under subpoena about sexual assault that she and her teaching assistant at the time had experienced in their classroom, the jury concluded after a four-day trial that started Monday. After teacher Erin Brooks told prosecutors, sent by Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares, about the incident, Ziegler fired her for working with the grand jury. Ziegler’s trial, which he didn’t speak at, was on charges of acting with a conflict of interest and penalizing an employee for appearing in court, both misdemeanors.

The incident involved a fifth-grade student at Rosa Lee Carter Elementary School, who Brooks said groped her and Laura Vandermeulen in class. After complaining to the administration, it gave them a de-escalation sign called “no-no hands” for them to put in front of their bodies to stop the student from touching them, the Daily Wire said. Brooks testified to the grand jury about the administration’s management of the situation, sparking a sequence of retaliation against her from Ziegler and other administrators until her firing.

Prosecutors said Brooks was targeted out of all the faculty in the district at a school board meeting in June 2022. Brooks’ contract wasn’t renewed at the meeting; Brooks accused the board members of a coverup during the public comment period.

The probe the grand jury was conducting was mandated by Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin. It was launched after the same high school transgender student allegedly sexually assaulted two females in 2021 in the LCPS school district.

The “gender-fluid” male student, wearing a skirt at the time, allegedly sodomized a ninth-grade girl in the girl’s bathroom at Stone Bridge High School. The perpetrator was transferred to another LCPS school, Broad Run High School (BRHS), where he allegedly sexually assaulted another female student. He allegedly “abducted” the girl from a hallway and forced her into an empty classroom, where he nearly suffocated and sexually assaulted her. A 15-year-old boy was convicted of both assaults and sentenced to complete a “residential program in a locked-down facility.”

In December 2022, the Loudoun County school board fired Ziegler in a closed-door meeting after the grand jury released a report blaming the district for failing to investigate the cases of student sexual assault. Shortly after, Ziegler, along with a public information officer, was indicted by the grand jury. The disgraced official was charged with one count of false publication, one count of prohibited conduct, and one count of penalizing an employee for a court appearance.

A different three-day trial is scheduled for February 20 on the false publication charge, in which Ziegler allegedly lied at a school board meeting about details of the first sexual assault episode.