A judge ordered special grand jury indictments against the recently fired Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent and the district's spokesman unsealed a week after the release of the grand jury's report detailing failures with the handling of two sexual assaults involving a student.
The grand jury indicted former Superintendent Scott Ziegler with misdemeanor counts of false publication, prohibited conduct and penalizing an employee for a court appearance, according to the Virginia attorney general's office.
The grand jury indicted Public Information Officer Wayde Byard on a felony count of perjury. LCPS placed Byard on leave without pay Monday.
"At this point, I can't address any specific charges because neither my attorney nor myself have been given any indication of what I've been alleged to do. So I can't do that. I plan on pleading not guilty," Byard said to reporters after a hearing on Tuesday.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
Ziegler also appeared in court Tuesday, but did not make a statement.
The father of one of the sexual assault victims, Scott Smith, attended Tuesday's hearing.
"It's real relieving to see that there might be some hope left in this justice system," Smith said.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The Loudoun County School Board voted unanimously last week to fire Ziegler.
A student sexually assaulted a female student at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021 but was allowed to transfer to Broad Run High School, where he abducted and sexually assaulted another female student in October 2021. The teen was later convicted in juvenile court.
In its report released Dec. 5, the grand jury accused Ziegler of lying about the assault at a school board meeting in June 2021 after the first assault occurred.
One of the indictments against Ziegler refers to misleading the public on June 22, 2021. The indictment doesn't specify what it is referring to, but on that day, Ziegler took part in a school board meeting discussion about Policy 8040, relating to transgender and non-gender-specific school rest room rights.
As the school board debated policies governing transgender students and whether they can use the restroom of their preference, a school board member asked Ziegler if the schools had a problem with sexual assaults occurring in bathrooms.
Ziegler responded that “to my knowledge we don't have any record of assaults in our restrooms.” But emails show that Ziegler had been informed of the Stone Bridge assault and in fact had sent an email to board members informing them of the incident.
In October of that year, Ziegler said he misinterpreted the school board member's question, apologized to victims and their families and outlined a number of policy change proposals regarding the investigations of sex assaults.
The report says teachers at both schools warned administrators of the student’s disturbing conduct weeks before each assault occurred, the Associated Press reported. Even the student’s grandmother spoke up and warned the student’s probation officer, referring to her grandchild as a “sociopath,” according to the report.
"The public now knows what we have suspected since the start of this tragic event – that what happened to her on Oct. 6, 2021, could have and should have been prevented," the second victim's family said in a statement. “Multiple red flags during the time period of May 12, 2021, to Oct. 6, 2021, were raised and ignored, including the 12-page disciplinary record for the assailant that was also mentioned in the report."
"Over the last 14 months since our daughter was assaulted, not one member of the school board, LCPS administration or even our local high school leadership has reached out to check on how she is doing, lend any type of support or even apologize for what we are going through as a family," the statement said.
Two of the charges against Ziegler relate to a separate case involving a teacher who reported being sexually assaulted on the job.
Special education teacher Erin Brooks filed a lawsuit against LCPS in June saying a student grabbed her private areas “dozens of times a day” and LCPS “did nothing to stop the assaults from occurring.”
“There was a suggestion that she put on an apron to stop the sexual assaults and that she use a cardboard cutout of a hand,” said Brooks’ attorney, John Whitbeck.
The lawsuit claims LCPS retaliated against Brooks after she testified for the grand jury and the school system didn’t renew her contract at the end of the school year.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares released a video statement, saying, “It is apparent that the Loudoun County School Board failed to provide proper oversight, accountability and transparency on the superintendent and their staff, precisely at a time where the victims needed them the most.”
The June 22, 2021, school board meeting devolved into chaos as a victim's mother -- heard on cellphone video -- told the crowd what happened.
Behind her, officers could be seen detaining the victim's father.
“My child was raped at school! " she said.
The family said they were provoked by other parents.
Weeks later, students walked out of Broad Run High School, Riverside High School and Stone Bridge High School over concerns about how sexual assaults and how the school handled the attacks.
The grand jury also said in its report Loudoun County Public Schools "bears the brunt of the blame" for the second sexual assault and allowing the boy to transfer schools after the first attack.
School system administrators looked out for their own interests rather than the best interests of the school district throughout their handling of the cases, the grand jury said.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin's office referred News4 to previous remarks about the case in which he said, "The circumstances that the grand jury was investigating were circumstances that we were deeply aware of last year, and the fact that it took an election, a new governor and on day one an executive order to get this investigated, I think, really speaks to the fact that I think the Loudoun County School Board let everyone down and didn't do their job."
The grand jury was commissioned by Republican Attorney General Miyares after he and Youngkin took office at the start of the year. Both criticized the school system during their election campaigns.
The school system sought unsuccessfully to quash the grand jury investigation, calling it politically motivated.
News4 has reached out to Byard for comment but has not heard back.
Ziegler was appointed superintendent for the county school system in June 2021 after serving as interim superintendent since January of that year.
The Loudoun County School Board appointed LCPS Chief of Staff Dr. Daniel Smith as interim superintendent Thursday.
