Virginia's Loudoun County school board won't release report on 2021 high-profile bathroom assaults

The Loudoun County School Board in northern Virginia has decided not to release the findings of an independent report on the 2021 sexual-assault cases at two high schools that attracted national attention and was a focal point in parents' quest during the height of the pandemic for more transparency in public schools. 

The board voted 6-3 on Tuesday night, citing attorney-client privilege, which can protect the identify of the accused and victims, despite a grand jury report that concluded school officials mishandled the situation.

Parents reportedly stormed out of a school board meeting after the vote, according to Fox 5, a local Fox TV affiliate.

Virginia law allows people to appeal a final school board decision to the local circuit court.

The 91-page grand jury report was released in December 2022 and confirmed the assaults occurred in May and October 2021.

In the first attack, the assailant, a male dressed in women's clothing, attacked a female student in a girl's bathroom. He was transferred from that high school campus, then commit a second sexual assault at the second campus five months later, according to The Washington Post. 

The investigation was authorized by Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. 

The report also says Loudoun Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler lied about the incident at a June 2021 board meeting, denying a sexual assault had occurred in a school bathroom when he knew such an assault had taken place, The Post also reports. Zeigler was subsequently fired. 

"We believe that throughout this ordeal LCPS administrators were looking out for their own interests instead of the best interests of LCPS," the report states. "This invariably led to a stunning lack of openness, transparency, and accountability."