Family Sues Loudoun County Public Schools for $30 Million Over Sexual Assault Incident and Transgender Bathroom Policy Controversy

Scott Smith’s daughter’s sexual assault lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools alleges a cover-up and deception related to the transgender bathroom policy. (Photo: news.yahoo)

Controversy Surrounding Sexual Assault Incident and Its Connection to LCPS’s Transgender Bathroom Policy

According to the report, the family of a teenage girl, Scott Smith’s daughter, who was sexually assaulted in a Loudoun County high school bathroom, is suing Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) for $30 million, alleging that the school district failed to adequately investigate and tried to cover up the incident.

The case gained national attention when a father, Scott Smith, accused the district at a June 2021 school board meeting of covering up his daughter’s sexual assault, which occurred in May of that year when a male student, wearing a skirt, allegedly raped Scott Smith’s daughter in the girls’ bathroom at Stone Bridge High School. Scott Smith claimed the district attempted to hide the assault to promote its transgender bathroom policy, which faced parental protests at LCPS school board meetings.

The student accused of rape was charged following the May assault, but he was transferred to another school in the district, Broad Run High School, where he sexually assaulted another girl in October 2021. He was convicted as a juvenile in both cases. The lawsuit alleges that the district deceived the public to conceal the May assault because it was working to advance Policy 8040, which permits students to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity, even though the policy had not been implemented at the time of the assault.

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Consequences of the Sexual Assault Incident and Its Nexus to LCPS’s Transgender Bathroom Policy

Scott Smith’s daughter, has faced significant academic, emotional and physical struggles since the incident. A grand jury report released in December criticized LCPS for prioritizing its interests over the well-being of its students in handling the sexual assaults, particularly in the context of its transgender bathroom policy. The report highlighted a lack of transparency and accountability and condemned the former superintendent Scott Ziegler for denying knowledge of the May assault while acknowledging it in an email to school board members on the same day.

The grand jury report also revealed that senior district officials privately discussed the first assault in connection with LCPS’s transgender bathroom policy. An investigation conducted by a law firm, later requested by the school board, found no evidence to support the attacker’s claims of identifying as female or wearing a skirt or kilt to access girls’ bathrooms. The firm’s report stated that teachers had previously warned administrators about the attacker’s behavior.

Ziegler, who was fired by the school board after the grand jury report, was recently found guilty of the retaliatory firing of a special education teacher, linked to the district’s handling of the sexual assaults and its transgender bathroom policy. The U.S. Department of Education has also initiated an investigation into LCPS’s handling of sexual assaults and its compliance with the transgender bathroom policy.

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