Loudoun County high school students left their classrooms Tuesday morning over concerns about sexual assaults and the school district’s handling of two reported attacks.
Students walked out of Broad Run High School, Riverside High School and Stone Bridge High School.
“Loudoun County protects rapists,” a group of students chanted outside Broad Run High.
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The demonstration was organized by a parent who sent out flyers, a Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman told News4.
A 14-year-old male student was accused of sexually assaulting a female classmate at Stone Bridge High in May. The student was transferred to Broad Run High, where he allegedly assaulted another female student.
The walkouts come a day after a juvenile court judge ruled that the student sexually assaulted his classmate at Stone Bridge High. Prosecutors said the female victim told the court she had previously met the boy in the restroom for consensual sexual encounters. She testified that on May 28, she met the boy in the restroom, said she didn’t want to have sex and he pinned her down and assaulted her.
The judge sustained the charges on the Stone Bridge assault, in the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict. A court hearing on the Broad Run High case is scheduled for next month. The boy will be sentenced once that occurs.
The family of the Stone Bridge High victim said the boy identifies as gender fluid and was wearing a skirt on the day of the attack in May. There was no mention in court this week of the boy’s gender identity, what he was wearing or any insinuation that his gender had to do with the attack.
Stone Bridge High parent Scott Mineo, part of a conservative group opposing the use of critical race theory in schools, said Tuesday that he was proud of students for demonstrating.
“I think it shows solidarity for students in an epidemic, really, that’s going on in Loudoun County that’s centered around sexual assaults and rapes,” he said.
Superintendent Scott Ziegler apologized to alleged victims and their families in remarks earlier this month, and outlined a number of policy change proposals. Some parents have called for his job.
Parent groups are expected to hold rallies outside a school board meeting Tuesday night.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
