SEP 15, 4:45 PM

As Virginia Gears Up For Elections, High School Sexual Assaults In Loudoun Dominate News

Margaret Barthel



Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at a “Parents Matter” town hall event in Prince William County. With consequential legislative elections on the horizon, Youngkin is touring Virginia to push his vision for “parents rights” in education.
Margaret Barthel / DCist/WAMU

A judge in Loudoun County released an independent report Thursday into two high-profile sexual assaults at two high schools in 2021, the latest chapter in a saga that has dominated county politics for almost two years.

The report lands at a key political moment for Loudoun County, just a week before early voting begins in the state’s legislative elections, which will determine control of the General Assembly in Richmond and could hand Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin a Republican-controlled legislature for the remainder of his term. Loudoun could be an important part of that quest for Republican unified government: the county is home to what is expected to be one of the tightest and most expensive senate races in the commonwealth.

The newly-released report reinforces a damning picture of the LCPS administration’s confused and inadequate response to the sexual assaults laid out in a grand jury investigation released last year. That investigation documented a months-long delay in school administrators’ opening of a Title IX investigation into the first assault, and found that the second assault could have been averted if administrators had taken the safety issue posed by the student more seriously.

The report itself became a major flashpoint, with critics of the schools calling for its release for more than a year. The school board maintained the report should be shielded from the public under attorney-client privilege. The body voted in February not to release it publicly, but was challenged in court by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.

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