Some parents are calling for the Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent's job after a teenage boy charged with sexual assault at one school was allowed to transfer to another school, where he was later charged in a second sexual assault.
The first attack was reported inside Stone Bridge High School in late May, where a ninth-grade girl says a boy forcibly sodomized her inside a bathroom.
“This is a really, really difficult time for them,” said Elicia Brand, a spokesperson for the victim’s family. “I mean, their baby was sexually assaulted in the most heinous of ways."
While the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office was investigating, a Loudoun County School Board meeting devolved into chaos June 22. The victim's mother is heard on cellphone video telling the crowd what happened.
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“My child was raped at school! " she said.
Behind her, the victim's father is seen being arrested.
The family says they were provoked by other parents.
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Then on Oct. 6 inside Broad Run High School, another girl was sexually assaulted inside of a classroom.
Prosecutors confirm it was the same boy.
“This is not OK to allow a child that has been charged with a rape to go back into a school," Brand said.
The boy was arrested and charged for the first assault in July but released from juvenile detention while prosecutors waited for DNA rape kit evidence to come back.
Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney Buta Biberaj says at the time they had no reason to believe the boy should have stayed in juvenile detention.
“If that case had gone forward and we were not able to substantiate beyond a reasonable doubt the allegations that were made by the victim, he would've been out anyway,” she said. “The best decision was made with the facts that were known."
Now, parents are calling for the superintendent's job.
The night of the chaotic school board meeting, the board was discussing the transgender and gender fluid student rights policy, which allows students to use the restroom of their gender identity, and a school board member asked the superintendent, “Do we have assaults in our bathrooms or our locker rooms, regularly? I would hope not but I would like clarification."
"To my knowledge, we don't have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms," Superintendent Scott Ziegler said.
The superintendent told that to the board less than a month after the first attack.
"His false statement on June 22 and his failure to keep an alleged assailant out of school are far worse and merit immediate termination," said Ian Prior of Fight for Schools.
Virginia State Code requires the superintendent be made aware of sexual assaults in schools.
In a statement, Loudoun County Public Schools says a public announcement at that time had the potential to identify a juvenile victim.
Parents say because the appropriate action wasn't taken, there are now two juvenile victims.
The boy charged with the sexual assaults is in juvenile detention, and both cases will go before a judge later this month.
