Grand Jury report on LCPS sexual assault cases is unsealed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole situation brings up a number of tricky questions, especially surrounding the rights of the accused.

1) What should happen to a student who has been observed to be acting in an inappropriate manner, but not in a rule-breaking way?

2) What should happen if the school has been contacted by family with concerns about the student's behavior?

3) What should happen to a student who is accused of a serious crime?

I'm not sure that I have a good answer for any of these. I'm not exonerating LCPS or the cops, clearly there were serious mistakes made, but I empathize a bit with their plight, in that you can't just kick a kid out of school for questionable behavior. And for #3, what if it was later found that the first encounter was consensual all the way through? Does the student get to come back?

Remember, under the Title IX rules instituted under the Trump administration, the accused are presumed to be innocent throughout the disciplinary process.

I think there has not been enough scrutiny on the admins at that school. The superintendent is the one in the spotlight but the ones running the school basically left their teachers and assistants out to dry.

They’re the ones who knew about the situation and allowed their employees, who knew nothing of the events, to handle a student who had to leave a previous school due to serious accusations. They didn’t give them any support despite having knowledge that the teachers and TAs don’t have any access to.

Did the superintendent forced this school to accept the transfer? Did he force them to ignore the TA? There was the art teacher who reported that 2 female students asked to be moved away because they felt uncomfortable. Did anything else happen? Did anyone follow up with those students who felt uncomfortable?

What is very concerning is that the AP’s response to the TA’s email is that “it’s a classroom management issue.” Basically washing his hands of the situation and implying that the TA is supposed to be able to handle that. If that’s the case, then what is their job? If an employee describes an inappropriate incident that made them feel uncomfortable, and all they get is an admin saying “Not my problem. You just need to have better classroom management skills!” Imagine how demoralizing it is. You bought up concerns and now you’re told it is a YOU problem because you don’t have classroom management skills. Did the superintendent force this AP to ignore the TA and make it sound like it was their fault the kids are acting like that? I doubt it. They acted on their own accord and decided they didn’t care about their employee’s concerns.

Is that why the other TA who went into the bathroom didn’t notify anyone? Because there is a culture of admins ignoring inappropriate behavior?

I think the case doesn’t just highlight issues around the rights of the accused, it also highlights how the people who are lowest on the totem pole like subs, TAs, and teachers are often forced to deal with the toughest situations on their own with no support. And then they get ignored when they voice concerns so they have to continue working in an uncomfortable environment. Meanwhile, where were the administrators?

AGREE!!! I think a huge part of the blame lies with BOTH of these principals for doing almost nothing. IANAL but seems criminally negligent to me.

It is completely negligent. They are nowhere to be found besides the response to the email where the AP pushed all the responsibilities onto the TA claiming it was a classroom management problem. That’s the only thing they did. It is hard to not put the majority of the blame on them when they ignored a cry for help from a TA. They were in charge of running this school, and yet here they didn’t do anything.

If they were smart, they could pretend to do “something.” Even if the gestures were meaningless, they could have offered to do something. They could say, “let me talk to the student.” Or “let me have the counselor talk to them.” Or “let me come in and observe your class, and I can give you some strategies on how to handle these things.” At least then, they could have said, “well, I tried to help.”

But they are so lazy that the only thing they did for this TA was say that it’s a classroom management problem. Basically, it’s not their problem at all. There’s nothing they can do to help. Or if there were, they’re not going to waste time following up on a complaint made by an assistant. The way everyone treated the assistant was horrible. Not just the admin, but the teachers didn’t give a hoot. The department chair claiming to be “confused” and thinking that the TA was afraid of Covid was just hilarious. Nope, this TA can’t possibly be concerned about the inappropriate behaviors because they were inappropriate. They must be concerned about the behaviors because they’re afraid of getting sick!! What kind of logic is this??

The superintendent had nothing to do with how this incident was handled at the school level. He had other issues, but I doubt he forced the admins and the other teachers to ignore the email. Or to come up with dumb reasons as to why no one cared enough about a fellow employee to follow up on her complaint.

I don’t know how all these people got off without any scrutiny on their actions and inactions. All the discussions are centered on the superintendent, but I think the vast majority of blame should be on the administrators of the school.

Ziegler’s blame lies in how this was handled with the public, the families involved, and in joy insuring that principal number 2 was FULLY briefed.

He is being blamed and indicted, and already got fired. So he is being held responsible. My point was that he is the only one. And the spokesperson got a perjury charge. What’s going on with other people involved?

Everyone else involved in the case got off scot free. Zero consequences. The report blamed the superintendent, and had issues with the county lawyer. But that’s it. Where were the admins running the schools? Do they have any responsibilities?

It looks like the superintendent could have avoided blame if he was clever enough to do the exact same thing as the principals and assistant principals. Do nothing and say nothing. Or some variety of meaningless comments like “I cannot comment on that.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole situation brings up a number of tricky questions, especially surrounding the rights of the accused.

1) What should happen to a student who has been observed to be acting in an inappropriate manner, but not in a rule-breaking way?

2) What should happen if the school has been contacted by family with concerns about the student's behavior?

3) What should happen to a student who is accused of a serious crime?

I'm not sure that I have a good answer for any of these. I'm not exonerating LCPS or the cops, clearly there were serious mistakes made, but I empathize a bit with their plight, in that you can't just kick a kid out of school for questionable behavior. And for #3, what if it was later found that the first encounter was consensual all the way through? Does the student get to come back?

Remember, under the Title IX rules instituted under the Trump administration, the accused are presumed to be innocent throughout the disciplinary process.

I think there has not been enough scrutiny on the admins at that school. The superintendent is the one in the spotlight but the ones running the school basically left their teachers and assistants out to dry.

They’re the ones who knew about the situation and allowed their employees, who knew nothing of the events, to handle a student who had to leave a previous school due to serious accusations. They didn’t give them any support despite having knowledge that the teachers and TAs don’t have any access to.

Did the superintendent forced this school to accept the transfer? Did he force them to ignore the TA? There was the art teacher who reported that 2 female students asked to be moved away because they felt uncomfortable. Did anything else happen? Did anyone follow up with those students who felt uncomfortable?

What is very concerning is that the AP’s response to the TA’s email is that “it’s a classroom management issue.” Basically washing his hands of the situation and implying that the TA is supposed to be able to handle that. If that’s the case, then what is their job? If an employee describes an inappropriate incident that made them feel uncomfortable, and all they get is an admin saying “Not my problem. You just need to have better classroom management skills!” Imagine how demoralizing it is. You bought up concerns and now you’re told it is a YOU problem because you don’t have classroom management skills. Did the superintendent force this AP to ignore the TA and make it sound like it was their fault the kids are acting like that? I doubt it. They acted on their own accord and decided they didn’t care about their employee’s concerns.

Is that why the other TA who went into the bathroom didn’t notify anyone? Because there is a culture of admins ignoring inappropriate behavior?

I think the case doesn’t just highlight issues around the rights of the accused, it also highlights how the people who are lowest on the totem pole like subs, TAs, and teachers are often forced to deal with the toughest situations on their own with no support. And then they get ignored when they voice concerns so they have to continue working in an uncomfortable environment. Meanwhile, where were the administrators?

AGREE!!! I think a huge part of the blame lies with BOTH of these principals for doing almost nothing. IANAL but seems criminally negligent to me.

It is completely negligent. They are nowhere to be found besides the response to the email where the AP pushed all the responsibilities onto the TA claiming it was a classroom management problem. That’s the only thing they did. It is hard to not put the majority of the blame on them when they ignored a cry for help from a TA. They were in charge of running this school, and yet here they didn’t do anything.

If they were smart, they could pretend to do “something.” Even if the gestures were meaningless, they could have offered to do something. They could say, “let me talk to the student.” Or “let me have the counselor talk to them.” Or “let me come in and observe your class, and I can give you some strategies on how to handle these things.” At least then, they could have said, “well, I tried to help.”

But they are so lazy that the only thing they did for this TA was say that it’s a classroom management problem. Basically, it’s not their problem at all. There’s nothing they can do to help. Or if there were, they’re not going to waste time following up on a complaint made by an assistant. The way everyone treated the assistant was horrible. Not just the admin, but the teachers didn’t give a hoot. The department chair claiming to be “confused” and thinking that the TA was afraid of Covid was just hilarious. Nope, this TA can’t possibly be concerned about the inappropriate behaviors because they were inappropriate. They must be concerned about the behaviors because they’re afraid of getting sick!! What kind of logic is this??

The superintendent had nothing to do with how this incident was handled at the school level. He had other issues, but I doubt he forced the admins and the other teachers to ignore the email. Or to come up with dumb reasons as to why no one cared enough about a fellow employee to follow up on her complaint.

I don’t know how all these people got off without any scrutiny on their actions and inactions. All the discussions are centered on the superintendent, but I think the vast majority of blame should be on the administrators of the school.

Ziegler’s blame lies in how this was handled with the public, the families involved, and in joy insuring that principal number 2 was FULLY briefed.

He is being blamed and indicted, and already got fired. So he is being held responsible. My point was that he is the only one. And the spokesperson got a perjury charge. What’s going on with other people involved?

Everyone else involved in the case got off scot free. Zero consequences. The report blamed the superintendent, and had issues with the county lawyer. But that’s it. Where were the admins running the schools? Do they have any responsibilities?

It looks like the superintendent could have avoided blame if he was clever enough to do the exact same thing as the principals and assistant principals. Do nothing and say nothing. Or some variety of meaningless comments like “I cannot comment on that.”

We have no idea yet who is and is not getting off “scot free.” This is just beginning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure these criminal charges will stick. And the public information officer charged with perjury? It seems very politically motivated by Youngkin/Miyares. Guess we’ll see.

Agree. And will make the next guy's job that much harder (and finding him/her).

Between attacks on teachers and now criminal charges against school administrators, who on earth would want to work in the VA public education system right now? It’s all part of Youngkin’s strategy to dismantle public schools and privatize education.

Well hopefully it keeps out the people who want to take a laissez faire approach to students with sexual assault charges. Maybe we can get back to admins that take it seriously when teachers or parents report dangerous behavior.

he

There was no laissez faire approach. Pure lies the rwnjs keep trying to push. Even the sro didn't think there was anything valid. She'd been having sex with the kid on the regular in the bathroom. The super could not say anything about the issue. He was in a difficult situation. You jerks have taken advantage of the difficult situation, just like you tried to villainize Fauci, to destroy the administration that seemed too liberal for you. This super is 100% a scapegoat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure these criminal charges will stick. And the public information officer charged with perjury? It seems very politically motivated by Youngkin/Miyares. Guess we’ll see.

Agree. And will make the next guy's job that much harder (and finding him/her).

Between attacks on teachers and now criminal charges against school administrators, who on earth would want to work in the VA public education system right now? It’s all part of Youngkin’s strategy to dismantle public schools and privatize education.

Well hopefully it keeps out the people who want to take a laissez faire approach to students with sexual assault charges. Maybe we can get back to admins that take it seriously when teachers or parents report dangerous behavior.

he

There was no laissez faire approach. Pure lies the rwnjs keep trying to push. Even the sro didn't think there was anything valid. She'd been having sex with the kid on the regular in the bathroom. The super could not say anything about the issue. He was in a difficult situation. You jerks have taken advantage of the difficult situation, just like you tried to villainize Fauci, to destroy the administration that seemed too liberal for you. This super is 100% a scapegoat.

Ewww. It is always the victim's fault right??? Her skirt was too short? Consent to v means consent to a, right??? Consent to s&x means consent to asphyxiation, right? How about consent to s$x means consent to a punch??? I hope you do not have children, as it is these attitudes that lead to s@x assault because your sons do not know when to stop.

[Anonymous]

Still have no idea what Byard allegedly perjured himself about. Makes no sense to me. That man had no reason or benefit to lie intentionally. He wasn’t involved in any of the incidents, he’s simply a PIO. It’s so unfortunate how this entire situation has become so politically entrenched that you can’t tell what was legitimately handled poorly and what is simply part of a political operation because conservatives target Loudoun and found the perfect opportunity to exploit. And meanwhile nothing at all coming down on LCSO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure these criminal charges will stick. And the public information officer charged with perjury? It seems very politically motivated by Youngkin/Miyares. Guess we’ll see.

Agree. And will make the next guy's job that much harder (and finding him/her).

Between attacks on teachers and now criminal charges against school administrators, who on earth would want to work in the VA public education system right now? It’s all part of Youngkin’s strategy to dismantle public schools and privatize education.

Well hopefully it keeps out the people who want to take a laissez faire approach to students with sexual assault charges. Maybe we can get back to admins that take it seriously when teachers or parents report dangerous behavior.

he

There was no laissez faire approach. Pure lies the rwnjs keep trying to push. Even the sro didn't think there was anything valid. She'd been having sex with the kid on the regular in the bathroom. The super could not say anything about the issue. He was in a difficult situation. You jerks have taken advantage of the difficult situation, just like you tried to villainize Fauci, to destroy the administration that seemed too liberal for you. This super is 100% a scapegoat.

The boy continued even after she withdrew consent, so despite a consensual history and even an interaction that began as intentional, it did become assault. However, this nuance consistently gets exploited by dishonest actors because if you mention the consensual history of bathroom sex between the two to highlight WHY the initial response was what it was, you’re accused of excusing a rapist or blaming the victim, neither of which are true. The response was insufficient AND it was clouded by the fact the two had been caught doing the same thing multiple times in a consensual context, which made it difficult to determine at first that this particular meetup had begun consensually but turned into an assault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure these criminal charges will stick. And the public information officer charged with perjury? It seems very politically motivated by Youngkin/Miyares. Guess we’ll see.

Agree. And will make the next guy's job that much harder (and finding him/her).

Between attacks on teachers and now criminal charges against school administrators, who on earth would want to work in the VA public education system right now? It’s all part of Youngkin’s strategy to dismantle public schools and privatize education.

Well hopefully it keeps out the people who want to take a laissez faire approach to students with sexual assault charges. Maybe we can get back to admins that take it seriously when teachers or parents report dangerous behavior.

he

There was no laissez faire approach. Pure lies the rwnjs keep trying to push. Even the sro didn't think there was anything valid. She'd been having sex with the kid on the regular in the bathroom. The super could not say anything about the issue. He was in a difficult situation. You jerks have taken advantage of the difficult situation, just like you tried to villainize Fauci, to destroy the administration that seemed too liberal for you. This super is 100% a scapegoat.

Ewww. It is always the victim's fault right??? Her skirt was too short? Consent to v means consent to a, right??? Consent to s&x means consent to asphyxiation, right? How about consent to s$x means consent to a punch??? I hope you do not have children, as it is these attitudes that lead to s@x assault because your sons do not know when to stop.

If you want to have a conversation about stopping sexual assault in schools, I will have it.

Be warned that that conversation will spend a lot of time about how transgender people are frequently the victims of it. It will also involve a close examination of the culture our cis-gender boys absorb and probably involve training for boys to stop them from being so predatory all the time.

Shall we have that conversation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still have no idea what Byard allegedly perjured himself about. Makes no sense to me. That man had no reason or benefit to lie intentionally. He wasn’t involved in any of the incidents, he’s simply a PIO. It’s so unfortunate how this entire situation has become so politically entrenched that you can’t tell what was legitimately handled poorly and what is simply part of a political operation because conservatives target Loudoun and found the perfect opportunity to exploit. And meanwhile nothing at all coming down on LCSO.

Maybe it’s for that one time when he said school was out because weather and then it didn’t snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure these criminal charges will stick. And the public information officer charged with perjury? It seems very politically motivated by Youngkin/Miyares. Guess we’ll see.

Agree. And will make the next guy's job that much harder (and finding him/her).

Between attacks on teachers and now criminal charges against school administrators, who on earth would want to work in the VA public education system right now? It’s all part of Youngkin’s strategy to dismantle public schools and privatize education.

Well hopefully it keeps out the people who want to take a laissez faire approach to students with sexual assault charges. Maybe we can get back to admins that take it seriously when teachers or parents report dangerous behavior.

he

There was no laissez faire approach. Pure lies the rwnjs keep trying to push. Even the sro didn't think there was anything valid. She'd been having sex with the kid on the regular in the bathroom. The super could not say anything about the issue. He was in a difficult situation. You jerks have taken advantage of the difficult situation, just like you tried to villainize Fauci, to destroy the administration that seemed too liberal for you. This super is 100% a scapegoat.

Ewww. It is always the victim's fault right??? Her skirt was too short? Consent to v means consent to a, right??? Consent to s&x means consent to asphyxiation, right? How about consent to s$x means consent to a punch??? I hope you do not have children, as it is these attitudes that lead to s@x assault because your sons do not know when to stop.

If you want to have a conversation about stopping sexual assault in schools, I will have it.

Be warned that that conversation will spend a lot of time about how transgender people are frequently the victims of it. It will also involve a close examination of the culture our cis-gender boys absorb and probably involve training for boys to stop them from being so predatory all the time.

Shall we have that conversation?

I'm not the pp you quoted, but I thought neither the rapist nor the victim were transgender?

[Anonymous]

Will the public be privy to how Byard perjured himself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure these criminal charges will stick. And the public information officer charged with perjury? It seems very politically motivated by Youngkin/Miyares. Guess we’ll see.

Agree. And will make the next guy's job that much harder (and finding him/her).

Between attacks on teachers and now criminal charges against school administrators, who on earth would want to work in the VA public education system right now? It’s all part of Youngkin’s strategy to dismantle public schools and privatize education.

Well hopefully it keeps out the people who want to take a laissez faire approach to students with sexual assault charges. Maybe we can get back to admins that take it seriously when teachers or parents report dangerous behavior.

he

There was no laissez faire approach. Pure lies the rwnjs keep trying to push. Even the sro didn't think there was anything valid. She'd been having sex with the kid on the regular in the bathroom. The super could not say anything about the issue. He was in a difficult situation. You jerks have taken advantage of the difficult situation, just like you tried to villainize Fauci, to destroy the administration that seemed too liberal for you. This super is 100% a scapegoat.

Ewww. It is always the victim's fault right??? Her skirt was too short? Consent to v means consent to a, right??? Consent to s&x means consent to asphyxiation, right? How about consent to s$x means consent to a punch??? I hope you do not have children, as it is these attitudes that lead to s@x assault because your sons do not know when to stop.

If you want to have a conversation about stopping sexual assault in schools, I will have it.

Be warned that that conversation will spend a lot of time about how transgender people are frequently the victims of it. It will also involve a close examination of the culture our cis-gender boys absorb and probably involve training for boys to stop them from being so predatory all the time.

Shall we have that conversation?

PP, not sure how anything I wrote actually conflicts with your notions that we need to be clear what consent entails and when it ends. With everyone. More so with our teenage sons. Definitely with society writ large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will the public be privy to how Byard perjured himself?

I’m very curious. It has to be an intentional, material misrepresentation. What would that be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will the public be privy to how Byard perjured himself?

I’m very curious. It has to be an intentional, material misrepresentation. What would that be?

Wouldn’t the indictment be public record?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still have no idea what Byard allegedly perjured himself about. Makes no sense to me. That man had no reason or benefit to lie intentionally. He wasn’t involved in any of the incidents, he’s simply a PIO.

Perhaps it had to do with the response to inquiries by Luke Rosiak and his e-mail telling people not to respond.
There were some documents that were provided by one administrator who had a different lawyer, that the division counsel was not aware the grand jury had.
This lawyer may have prepared Byard to give certain testimony not knowing that the grand jury had other evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still have no idea what Byard allegedly perjured himself about. Makes no sense to me. That man had no reason or benefit to lie intentionally. He wasn’t involved in any of the incidents, he’s simply a PIO. It’s so unfortunate how this entire situation has become so politically entrenched that you can’t tell what was legitimately handled poorly and what is simply part of a political operation because conservatives target Loudoun and found the perfect opportunity to exploit. And meanwhile nothing at all coming down on LCSO.

Maybe it’s for that one time when he said school was out because weather and then it didn’t snow.

Two members of the board were nearly arrested for blatantly ignoring the grand jury subpoena. How is it a surprise that someone involved in this mess ended up under indictment?