Global Courant
Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools named Aaron Spence as its next superintendent on Friday, seven months after the district fired its superintendent amid allegations of assault charges at two schools.
Spence, who has been superintendent of Virginia Beach Public Schools since 2014, was voted 6 to 2 to lead LCPS. One board member was absent from the vote.
“I am honored to serve as your superintendent and look forward to building on the already solid foundation of academic excellence at Loudoun County Public Schools,” he said in a statement. “My goal from day one will be to ensure that we lead together to build trust, create even more transparency for our community around the outstanding work of our school division, recruit and develop a team of world-class educators. and leverage the power of family and stakeholder relationships to strengthen us.”
Spence takes over from Daniel Smith, who was appointed interim superintendent in December. Smith had taken over after superintendent Scott Ziegler was fired by the school board over a grand jury report accusing the district of failing to adequately respond to reports of sexual assault.
LOUDOUN COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT SCOTT ZIEGLER FIRED AFTER GRAND JURY REPORT ON SEXUAL ATTACK TREATMENT
Superintendent Scott Ziegler was fired by the school board last year over a grand jury report accusing the district of failing to adequately respond to reports of sexual assault. (Getty)
In 2021, two sexual assaults were reported by the same student at two different LCPS schools.
At a June 2021 school board meeting, a father accused the district of covering up his daughter’s sexual assault, in which a biological boy wearing a skirt raped her in the girls’ bathroom a month earlier. The father claimed the district was trying to cover up his daughter’s assault in order to push through the controversial transgender bathroom policy.
The policy, which had not been implemented at the time of the assault, allows students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
The suspect was transferred to another school in the district and allegedly sexually assaulted another girl in October 2021. The suspect was charged in both cases and was found guilty of the first assault.
The grand jury report accused the district of looking after its own interests over the interests of its students in handling the assaults and that LCPS “failed at every turn.”
The report said LCPS demonstrated a “stunning lack of openness, transparency and accountability, both to the public and to the special grand jury” regarding its response to the assaults. The report also criticized Ziegler for denying knowledge of the first attack at the June 2021 school board meeting.
Parents protest in Loudoun County, Virginia, on June 22, 2021. (Reuters)
Ziegler said at the board meeting that “the predatory transgender student or individual just doesn’t exist,” and, as far as he knows, “we don’t have data on assaults in our restrooms.” But on the day of the attack, May 28, 2021, Ziegler emailed school administrators that a report had been filed.
The school board fired Ziegler days after the grand jury’s report. He was later indicted and is charged with false publishing, prohibited conduct and punishing an employee for a lawsuit.
According to emails detailed in the grand jury report, senior district officials had met privately to discuss the initial attack and link it to transgender policies.
The US Department of Education launched an investigation in April into the handling of the sexual assault cases at LCPS.
US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LAUNCHES SURVEY AT LOUDOUN COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON SEXUAL ATTACKS TREATMENT
Angry parents and community members protest after a Loudoun County School Board meeting. (Reuters)
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School board president Ian Serotkin said Spence is expected to start as superintendent in the coming months, while Smith will remain as superintendent until he takes over.
“His experience and success in running a large, complex public school department will ensure that our students continue to receive the highest quality education,” Serotkin said in a statement.
LCPS hired a company in February to lead the search for a new superintendent. A survey of parents, students and community members, which generated more than 4,000 responses, found that school safety, staff retention and attention to academics were among the most important issues.
