n LOUDOUN
Pg. 4 | n LEESBURG
Pg. 6 | n EDUCATION
Pg. 10 | n OBITUARIES
Pg. 25 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
Pg. 27
2021 ELECTION GUIDE INSIDE
VOL. 6, NO. 49
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Fallout from School Assault Scandal Sparks Resignation Push, Safety Concerns BY HAYLEY BOUR
OCTOBER 28, 2021
Voting Enters Final Week BY RENSS GREENE
hbour@loudounnow.com
rgreene@loudounnow.com
Fallout from the sexual assault scandal in Loudoun County Public Schools has spurred calls for resignations of School Board members and Superintendent Scott Ziegler, and threats of violence against them and the Commonwealth’s Attorney. A teen on Monday was found guilty on charges stemming from the sexual assault of fellow student in a Stone Bridge High School bathroom in May. That 14-yearold assailant is due back in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on Nov. 15 to face charges of assault against another student in a classroom at Broad Run High School on Oct. 6. The news of the assaults has shocked the community and prompted responses from numerous community groups. On Tuesday morning, students at high schools wore white and staged a walk-out to show solidarity with the victims. Public outrage about the decision to place the student in another high school was amplified last week when it was learned that previous claims that School Board members were not notified about the first assault were untrue. An email obtained through a FOIA request shows that the School Board was informed of the May assault the day it occurred; they were also told that the more information wouldn’t be available until law enforcement concluded its investigation. Ziegler later said he had misunderstood the question to be about assaults by transgender students only.
Hayley Bour/Loudoun Now
Protestors both for and against the Loudoun County School Board and its policies gathered outside the school administration building on Oct. 27.
During Tuesday’s School Board meeting, scores of parents and students lined up outside the administration building for their opportunity to speak for 60 seconds during the public comment section of the meeting. Nearly all called for Ziegler to be fired and for board members to step down. “If you can make a child stay home for refusing to wear a mask, you can make a child stay home for raping another
student,” student Kaitlyn Hornbaker said during public comment. Ted Williamson, a father in the Catoctin district, told the board that his daughters no longer go into bathrooms at school unless they are with a friend. “We encourage them to hold it until they get home,” he said.
Loudouners are voting now for the next governor, lieutenant governor, Attorney General, seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, along the mayor and town council in Middleburg and Round Hill and a town council seat in Purcellville. And voters are now entering their last week to cast their ballots in a new Virginia where voting is something that happens over a period of weeks, rather than in one bonanza on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. People in Loudoun have taken advantages of changes in Virginia that made voting easier, with no-excuse absentee and early voting. As of Tuesday morning, Loudoun County Registrar Judy Brown said 22,160 people had voted early in person. And that count doesn’t include the people who are voting by mail. On Tuesday, Brown said, there was even a short line in the morning, with space limited in the registrar’s office in Leesburg but plans to move into a larger space in the future. The early voting numbers don’t compare to early voting during the pandemic year presidential election in 2020—but are far beyond any-
SCHOOL SAFETY CONCERNS continues on page 11
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ELECTION DAY continues on page 16
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