The driver of a Loudoun County Public Schools maintenance truck who struck and killed a 20-year-old Stone Bridge High School student in January has been charged in the incident.
The driver of a Loudoun County Public Schools maintenance truck who struck and killed a 20-year-old Stone Bridge High School student in January has been charged in the incident.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said in a release Wednesday that Dale Whitney Taylor, 58, of Leesburg, has been charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian after he fatally struck Calina Yu while she was on her way to school.
The crash happened on the morning of Jan. 13 at the intersection of Claiborne Parkway and Portsmouth Boulevard in Ashburn, just steps away from the high school.
Deputies said Taylor stayed at the scene after the crash.
Taylor was released on a summons and is set to appear in court at a later date.
WTOP has reached out to LCPS for comment.
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Unpaid school lunch debt is becoming a primary issue in Loudoun County Public schools as food insecurity continues to impact the D.C. area.
Unpaid school lunch debt is becoming a primary issue in Loudoun County Public Schools as food insecurity continues to impact the D.C. area.
“Our unpaid meal date has increased year over year,” Sharon Willoughby, chief financial officer for Loudoun County Public Schools, said during a joint meeting of the Loudoun County Board of Education and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on Monday.
She said unpaid meal debt is up 52% compared to last year. And requests to be included in the Free and Reduced Lunch program have jumped 180%.
“This year, we’re off to the same trend, where we will most likely be exceeding last year’s unpaid meal debt,” Willoughby said. “After the pandemic, LCPS, along with other school divisions across the nation, has seen their meal debt really increase just across the board.”
She said debt status will not stop students from getting their lunches, but families are getting notifications if they have a negative balance that’s over $5.
Students with a negative balance are not allowed to get extra items in the lunch line but will still get a breakfast and lunch.
Willoughby said school meal prices have increased by 20 cents a meal to address the rising cost of the program. Lunches now cost $3.55.
“We understand the need of having students have food in their stomachs in the morning so they can focus on the day,” Loudoun County Board Supervisor Sylvia Glass said.
At the end of a fiscal year, any outstanding meal debt is absorbed by the school system and does not roll over into the next school year. Families then start with a zero-dollar balance even if they can’t pay their meal debt.
LCPS has partnered with Giant Food and some other organizations to help with donations to cover some of the unpaid debt.
“You may notice when you check out at the grocery store sometimes you have the option to round up for a certain charitable cause. One of those causes has been donating to the school nutrition program,” Willoughby said.
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Loudoun County Public Schools’ enrollment is projected to drop over the next several years, a trend school leaders anticipate will impact staffing and construction of school buildings.
The number of students attending schools in Loudoun County is projected to decline over the next several years, a trend that leaders in the Northern Virginia suburb anticipate will impact staffing and construction of new school buildings.
At a school board meeting last month, the school system unveiled enrollment projections for the next several fiscal years. In 2026, Loudoun is expecting 80,201 students, a 0.3% drop from the September 2025 unofficial enrollment. By 2031, the school division is estimating 77,360 students.
After several years of gradual growth starting in fiscal 2016, the decline started in 2023.
It can be attributed to a variety of factors, officials said. The birth rate is declining, as is the case across the Virginia, and families are moving away from Loudoun County, according to recent census data. Some young people may struggle to afford the cost of living in the county, and others are starting families later in life.
“We are seeing a slowing and declining in our enrollment,” Beverly Tate, director of planning and GIS services, said. “It’s certainly going to have an effect on staffing. It’s going to have an effect on new school construction.”
With the exception of one new high school, Tate said the estimates mean Loudoun isn’t anticipating opening any other new schools, “because our enrollments are dropping, and we believe we have the capacity within our facilities to serve those students.”
In nearby Northern Virginia suburbs, enrollment has largely remained the same. In Fairfax County, there are 180,559 kids enrolled this year, compared to 180,982 last year. In Prince William County, there are 90,629 students this year, and there were 90,654 last year.
Many young families, Tate said, can’t afford to live in Loudoun, and the county also has older people “who are here to stay, but no more children coming out of our house.”
Some families are opting for home school or private school, but Tate said that’s a trend that diminished, so “there is no red flags for us, of concern, with this.”
The public school population in Loudoun is getting older, Tate said, and the district isn’t attracting as many young kids. That’s the reason the division has been building many secondary schools in recent years, Tate said.
The most significant decline is expected to be among kindergarten through fifth graders, according to school division data. However, the county is planning for a gradual increase in high schoolers.
In response to the projections, Board member Deana Griffiths said, “I personally think we may have overbuilt.”
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A Loudoun County student’s suspension is on hold while litigation over whether the punishment was warranted moves forward, a federal judge ruled Friday.
A Loudoun County student’s suspension is on hold while litigation over whether the punishment was warranted moves forward, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The ruling comes after two students’ families filed a lawsuit against the Northern Virginia school district, alleging the kids were wrongfully punished for speaking out about an incident in a school locker room. During the encounter, they said a transgender student identifying as male recorded them in a locker room at Stone Bridge High School.
The students had been suspended for 10 days for harassment. And in a new court filing this week, the school system described incidents in which the two students harassed the other student before the incident in the locker room.
“These boys never directly spoke with the complainant, and so our boys were merely complaining that there was a biological girl in their locker room,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Founding Freedoms Law Center. “The school has decided to make them political pawns in a battle over ideology.”
In court documents, the school system said witnesses describe threatening incidents or behavior in gym class and school hallways.
In an 11-second video, a speaker is heard saying “girl boy” several times. The student who filed the complaint said the two boys said to “get out” of the locker room and was referred to as “it” during P.E. class.
According to the court files, investigators spoke to Loudoun County Public School staff members and a variety of student witnesses.
The locker room incident prompted some community members to speak out, and resulted in a federal Department of Education investigation. The agency found Loudoun County violated Title IX and retaliated against the boys, who expressed concern about being recorded by a transgender boy in the boys’ locker room.
The incident has also been referenced as the Education Department found bathroom policies at five Northern Virginia school districts violate Title IX. The agency said policies that allow students to use facilities based on their gender identity rather than biological sex violate the law. The families’ lawsuit seeks to end that school system policy in Loudoun County.
A recording of the locker room incident, documents said, reveals a series of comments the two boys made, including things such as “there’s a girl,” “why is there a girl?”
Reviewers described in documents as “independent decision makers” ruled that the two boys had sexually harassed the student.
“Our clients never spoke to the female student,” Cobb, the boys’ attorney, said. “They only expressed confusion and discomfort about having a girl in the boys locker room.”
After Friday’s ruling, Cobb said one of the two students can remain in school while the case progresses. The other moved away from the area, but Cobb said it’s “about their student record more than a suspension.”
In a statement on Friday, a spokesman for Loudoun County schools said the division acknowledges “the court’s decision today and will prepare for the next steps in this matter. We remain committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment for all students.”
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Charter schools in Loudoun County will be able to keep asking for funding for infrastructure improvements, as part of an updated policy the school board approved.
Charter schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be able to keep asking for funding for classroom upgrades and other infrastructure improvements as part of an updated policy the school board approved last week.
The policy pertains to the establishment of charter schools. As part of an amendment to the proposed policy, charter schools are eligible to ask for funding for infrastructure needs, and those needs could be included in the Capital Improvement Program if the school board deems it necessary.
The Capital Improvement Program is the school division’s long-term plan for acquiring property and renovating and maintaining existing public school facilities. The proposed update passed, 7-2.
The approved policy update put an end to community fears that Loudoun County’s two charter schools would be ineligible for funding to improve their campuses. The original proposal said charter school facilities wouldn’t be included in the Capital Improvement Program for current or future improvements.
“It is a positive step, but I also feel like we’re still going to have continuing conversations on how much funding we can get,” parent Robert Carey said. “Can we really improve the school? How much funds will we be able to receive? That will be a work in progress, but at least it’s a very, very good, positive first step.”
Joe Luppino-Esposito, vice president of Hillsboro Charter Academy’s board of directors, said the newly approved policy takes out the “worst part,” which he described as the section restricting funding for charter schools. Their campus, he said, doesn’t have a music room or a teacher’s lounge, and it has a small lab that doubles as the lunch room.
The campus includes what he calls the “art cottage,” a portable trailer that was supposed to be temporary, “but it’s been there since at least 1996. These are all the type of things that would really not stand anywhere else in the district, except for the fact that it’s been the charter school,” Luppino-Esposito said.
As part of the approved amendment, introduced by Loudoun County School Board member Lauren Shernoff, the school board will defer to current charter agreements for existing charter schools.
At the Sept. 30 meeting, Chief Operations Officer Kevin Lewis told the board allowing charter schools to be considered for capital improvements could be costly, suggesting expansion plans could leave the district responsible for spending millions on enhancements for existing infrastructure in addition to new spaces.
The school board last reviewed its policy for establishing charter schools in 2020.
The new updates, Carey said, allow for capital improvements that are “critical for us to be able to operate and continue to operate in a safe environment for these students.”
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A Loudoun County charter school said a proposed change to make charters ineligible for capital improvement program funding would make it challenging to maintain and expand its facilities.
Hillsboro Charter Academy students attend an assembly.(Courtesy Hillsboro Charter Academy)
Hillsboro Charter Academy students attend an assembly.(Courtesy Hillsboro Charter Academy)
A Loudoun County charter school said a proposed change to make charters ineligible for capital improvement program funding would make it challenging to maintain and expand its facilities.
Hillsboro Charter Academy, which has 144 students and a long waiting list, is sounding the alarm about the possible consequences of the change the suburban Northern Virginia district’s school board is considering.
Under the proposal, which was discussed at a Loudoun County School Board meeting earlier this month, a charter school facility or campus would not be included in the school board’s Capital Improvement Program for “current or future capital improvements.”
A vote on the change could be scheduled for the end of September.
The pivot comes as the school is hoping to improve its physical infrastructure, including building new playgrounds and a new music room. Joe Luppino-Esposito, vice president of the charter school’s board of directors, said the move means “we’re really at risk of the school just not being able to operate because the building will fall into disrepair.”
WTOP has contacted School Board Member Kari LaBelle, whose Catoctin District includes the school campus, for comment on the school’s concerns.
“The part where it seems like the district is falling short and saying things like, ‘Every school needs a new playground, except for you guys in Middleburg, because you’re the only two charter schools, so you don’t get a new playground,’” Luppino-Esposito said. “This doesn’t really make any sense. Those kids are no different in the third grade in our schools versus the third grade in Mountain View or any of the other schools.”
The school has previously received capital funding for things such as an HVAC unit, Luppino-Esposito said, and the school board agreed to replace the roof. It’s funded from Loudoun County schools’ regular operating budget, and it gets paid the average per pupil figure. The division takes a 5% administrative fee, “and then that money is supposed to be dedicated primarily to student education, but that money also goes toward regular maintenance,” he said.
Teachers at the school work for the public school division, but leadership works for the private academy. Luppino-Esposito said there’s no tuition or “special permission to get in.”
The school system’s Capital Improvement Program is a long-term plan for maintaining school infrastructure and covering construction costs, among other things.
Some school board members have argued against the proposal, but Luppino-Esposito said “some people in the district are saying, ‘Well, worse come to worse, we can just close down the school and distribute the kids back to their home schools and so be it.’”
Caleb Kershner, who represents the Catoctin District on Loudoun County’s Board of Supervisors, said not funding the capital needs of charter schools could be “a death knell, potentially.” The supervisors fund the school division’s budget but don’t directly fund a specific school.
“They are a form of a public school, so I don’t know why you would treat them any differently in terms of the funding and how you support them as you do with a traditional school,” Kershner told WTOP.
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Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX and retaliated against two male students being filmed in a boys’ locker room by a transgender student.
WTOP’s Nick Iannelli discussed the DOE finding with Loudoun Now reporter Patrick Lewis
The U.S. Department of Education said Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX and retaliated against two male students who reported being filmed in a boys’ locker room by a transgender student who identified as a male.
The ruling, in the form of a press release, came the day after the families of the two students filed a federal lawsuit against LCPS, seeking to overturn suspensions for the two students at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia.
The decision is the latest by the Department of Education, under President Donald Trump, focused on the issue of whether transgender children should be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.
“Loudoun County’s adherence to radical gender ideology has repeatedly placed its students in harm’s way,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “Loudoun County failed to treat allegations of sexual harassment equally: it promptly investigated a female student’s complaint but quickly dismissed and failed to meaningly investigate two of its male students’ complaints of sexual harassment.”
According to the DOE release, LCPS has 10 days to voluntarily enter the Department’s Resolution Agreement, which requires the school system to take the following actions:
Rescind the suspensions imposed on the two male students;
Review its findings to determine if discipline of the male students is warranted and, if Loudoun County determines that it is, the discipline must not exceed the discipline imposed on students who engaged in similar conduct and who had comparable disciplinary histories;
Issue letters apologizing for Loudoun County’s failure to properly investigate Title IX complaints;
Notify the students and their parents that Loudoun County Public Schools will promptly investigate the formal Title IX complaints in a manner that is compliant with the requirements of Title IX; and
Provide training to all high school and Loudoun County staff who receive or respond to reports of sexual harassment under Title IX.
Contacted by WTOP for a response to the DOE findings, Loudoun County Public Schools referred to an earlier comment: “At no time would LCPS suspend a student simply because they expressed some kind of discomfort. A reading of our Title IX resources should make it clear that there is a high bar to launch a Title IX investigation and an even higher bar to determine a student is in violation of Title IX.”
What this means, what comes next
Shortly after the DOE statement, WTOP evening anchor Nick Iannelli spoke with Loudoun Now reporter Patrick Lewis. Iannelli said the facts about what happened in the boys’ bathroom aren’t clear to the public.
“We know the school’s Title IX office found the two boys guilty of sexual harassment and sex based discrimination, and we only know that boys’ lawyers and their families released that,” said Lewis. “The schools are not going to release anything at all because they’re saying its protected student records.”
While the school system’s statement provides no specifics, Iannelli posited that the statement suggests other factors led to the students’ suspensions.
“There’s a lot of bars that you legally have to hit to even initiate a Title IX investigation once ou receive a complaint,” said Lewis. “Obviously, they found them guilty of harassment and discrimination, so from LCPS’s side, they’re saying they checked a lot of boxes, which obviously the boys and their attorneys are saying they were nowhere near checking.”
In July, DOE’s Office of Civil Rights found five Northern Virginia school divisions — Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington, and the City of Alexandria — had violated Title IX. The school systems refused to abide by the proposed DOE resolution agreement.
While the new release from the Department of Education doesn’t specify what steps would be taken if Loudoun doesn’t comply, “Presumably the Education Department will move further in their process to withdraw federal funding from the schools,” said Lewis.
However, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares referred his investigation into the locker room filming incident to the U.S. Department of Justice. “No word from them on whether they’re even investigating that, but potentially, down the road, there could also be criminal elements to all of this, as well,” said Lewis.
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On the first day of the 2025-2026 school year, Virginia’s third-largest school system says it’s focused on making sure students feel a true sense of belonging as they begin the fall semester.
From saving on school supplies to the impact of federal cuts, the WTOP team is studying up on hot-button topics in education across the D.C. region. Follow on air and online in our series, “WTOP Goes Back to School” this August and September.
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Loudoun Co. schools kick off a new year
On the first day of the 2025-26 school year, Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia’s third-largest school system, says it’s focused on making sure students feel a true sense of belonging as they begin the fall semester.
With 100 schools, a student enrollment of just under 82,000 and an on-time graduation rate of 97.2%, the school system says a feeling of connection is needed to ensure a child can thrive, “and become their best and most engaged self in the classroom,” the school system said.
LCPS hired 626 new licensed teachers and counselors for the school year, of which 59.7% hold master’s degrees and 2.1% hold doctoral degrees. Of the 626 staff members, 237 are brand new teachers to the profession, according to the school system.
As of Aug. 13, almost 99% of the licensed positions were filled.
As of Aug. 15, LCPS had 20 bus driver vacancies, 17 bus driver trainees currently in training, seven trainees scheduled for future training in September, and 25 bus driver candidates in the preboarding process. Until the staffing is at 100%, the school system said other transportation staff will fill-in where needed.
New programs this year include the Loudoun Recovery Academy, designed for students who are in early recovery from substance-use disorders. According to LCPS, as they work toward their diploma, students will “receive the academic, emotional, and social support necessary to complete high school and have the flexibility to participate in internships, work, or fulfill other commitments.”
In readying LCPS students for careers, the Accelerated College and Employability Skills program, or Access Academy begins this year, in collaboration with George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College.
Focus on kindness, respect, empathy
Several schools in the district have initiatives that go beyond reading, writing, math and science.
Evergreen Mill Elementary School in Leesburg has a “Kindness Club.” Principal Jennifer Thiessen says fifth graders can volunteer to visit and help their youngest schoolmates, preschoolers, with varying needs.
“It creates opportunity for relationships between students that might not normally interact with each other during the school day,” Thiessen said. “It’s an opportunity for teaching compassion, empathy and understanding, and some of those soft skills that we find to be just extremely important at the elementary level.”
Thiessen said preschool teachers will visit fifth grade classrooms early in the year, to tell them about some of the younger students, and the needs they might have, including communication delays.
“It’s really a teachable moment for our older students, cultivating that sense of leadership,” she said. “It’s just a lovely opportunity, and the kids are really excited about it on both ends of the spectrum.”
“We’re in an academic setting. But we also want our fifth graders to leave elementary school with a sense of empathy and this idea of how to be kind to one another, and really to seek first to understand,” Thiessen said.
While the older students benefit from accepting responsibility, Thiessen said the preschoolers love the interaction with fifth graders.
“It’s really cute. They’ve got really big smiles on their faces when they see them. It’s definitely a different dynamic than with their teacher — they kind of see them as like the ‘cool person in the building,’” she said.
Discovery Elementary School has a C.A.R.E. Team, which stands for Council for Active Respect and Empathy, for fourth and fifth graders. J.L. Simpson Middle School’s Empowered Girls Club offers seventh and eighth grade girls of color opportunities to create an additional support system for encouragement and empowerment.
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Students in Loudoun County will now be able to carry naloxone in their backpacks, as part of an update to the school district’s student medication policy.
The change will allow students who have received training, and whose parents have signed off, to carry the overdose-reversal drug at school.
The policy updates come about a year after the school system reported a series of overdoses, including at least eight at one county high school. That prompted Gov. Glenn Youngkin to sign an executive order requiring school divisions to promptly notify families of a student overdose.
“This is completely optional,” school board member Anne Donohue said. “This, in no way, is obligating any student at LCPS to carry naloxone. It is simply saying, if they want to, they will be allowed to.”
According to the approved policy, a student who administers the naloxone has to tell a staff member.
Any student who wants to carry naloxone in their backpack will have to get it themselves.
While some school board members said the change will improve student safety, others suggested it puts too much pressure on students.
“We are asking students to become emergency responders, and I feel like it’s putting a heavy responsibility on the students,” board member Deana Griffiths said. “You may also lose actual confirmed reporting by students if they are administering naloxone.”
Board member Lauren Shernoff echoed that sentiment, suggesting the school division is “putting what I feel to be a very adult thing on our children, if they take that responsibility.”
But, board member April Chandler said, “If you’re faced with an overdose of your classmate, it’s traumatic either way. Are you empowered to do something that could save a life? Or are you going to be traumatized by the fact that you saw somebody pass away? It’s impossible to consider.”
Loudoun County Public Schools will update its student handbook with information about parents’ legal obligation to safely secure guns.
Loudoun County Public Schools will update its student handbook with information about parents’ legal obligation to safely secure guns, as part of a resolution the school board passed Tuesday night.
The Gun Safety Storage Resolution, which board members in the Northern Virginia district approved unanimously, comes in the aftermath of recent school shootings in Georgia and Maryland, plus a series of unsubstantiated threats to schools in Loudoun.
Those incidents, board member April Chandler said, have prompted community members to inquire about what more can be done to keep schools safe.
“There’s no denying that the fear of gun violence at school has an impact on our students,” Chandler said. “This fear is hurting our kids.”
In Virginia, it’s against the law for anyone to leave a loaded, unsecured firearm out in a way that could endanger a child under 14 years old. The penalty for doing that is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Now, as part of the resolution, the school division will update the student handbook with information about parents’ responsibility to safely secure guns.
A notification will also be sent to parents and guardians, detailing why it’s important to store guns securely and explaining the legal obligation to protect kids from guns that aren’t stored properly.
“The facts show that a lot of people are not responsibly storing their firearms in a safe way,” board member Anne Donohue said. “Which is why I think it is appropriate for the division to put out some of that information to the community, just like we do about the opioid crisis, the mental health crisis, just like we do about other threats to the safety and security of our children and the families in our county.”
Information won’t be collected from parents, Chandler said. The school district also isn’t collecting information about gun ownership, she added.
“It’s a nearly no-cost communication to educate the community,” Chandler said. “Now is not the time to play politics with student safety.”
During Tuesday night’s meeting, Chandler cited data from a 2023 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics that found guns are the leading cause of death for American children and teens.
“People safe-storing their guns is common sense,” board member Lauren Shernoff said. “I know we’ve said that before, but this is an opportunity for us to work together as a community and a school division to say we’re committed to keeping kids safe.”
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In a WTOP exclusive, former Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman Wayde Byard is finally speaking on his own behalf, ahead of the release of his book “The Battle for Loudoun County.”
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Former Loudoun Co. schools spokesman Wayde Byard on indictment, culture wars
He spent 20 years as the spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools and then found himself at the center of a national controversy — and a felony perjury trial — over the school system’s handling of two sexual assaults by the same student. Now, Wayde Byard, who was acquitted last year in his criminal trial, is finally speaking on his own behalf.
Byard’s perjury case was the sole felony count handed up from an eight-monthslong special grand jury probe commissioned by Attorney General Jason Miyares at the request of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Byard was found not guilty by a Loudoun County jury in June 2023.
“I wanted people to know that a public school system would not cover up a rape or hide student misconduct or not cooperate with law enforcement,” said Byard.
In his book, Byard describes Loudoun County as “the wealthiest, most-educated locality in America. It’s diverse. It’s home to cutting-edge technology. It boasts one of the most-honored school systems in the country.”
He also said it’s home to “bigotry and cultural stupidity on an epic scale.”
“Loudoun is a template for how the Radical Right wants to reshape American politics, using a reasonable façade to push policies that were considered regressive a half-century ago,” he writes.
While the school system’s transgender policy would become the focus of much of the ensuing controversy, Byard said an earlier turning point came in June 2021 when then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler presented “Promise and Progress: Report on Equity 2021” to a work session of the school board. While no members of the media were present, this was the first time an LCPS superintendent highlighted the fact that white students were outnumbered in the school system.
“I think you can tap into people who are nervous about a school division or community going majority minority. There’s a lot of fears there — people think ‘I’ve lost my community,’” Byard opined.
Byard blamed what he calls “social media conspiracy theories” that exploited some honest mistakes made by the school system.
“That’s what people really want to think, is that somehow this big organization with 15,000 people, has this gigantic conspiracy going to poison the minds of the young,” said Byard. “And nothing could be further from the truth.”
The incident
In 2021, Loudoun County became the epicenter of a controversy that played out in the state governor’s race and even on a national level about how the school system handled two sexual assaults done by the same student — the first one in late May of that year in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School.
The attack came at a time when the school system was considering a policy change to allow transgender students to use the restroom of their choice, and the perpetrator was wearing a skirt (or kilt) at the time.
Shortly afterward, the school board approved the policy allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.
Byard said local news organizations were willing participants in drawing outsized attention to future school board meetings.
“The news directors would say, ‘OK, Loudoun is the hot spot, so we’ve got to have a crew there,” said Byard. “What made Loudoun special is we had some political performance artists, some of whom came in from Fairfax and Prince William (counties), who wanted to make YouTube videos.”
Byard said mostly outside agitators were adept at getting attention: “They knew the news story would become ‘Parents go crazy at school board meeting, film at 11.’ And here’s a teaser, somebody shouting into a microphone, usually with a couple of bleeps.”
The controversy only grew when the male student was transferred to another high school, Broad Run High School, and sexually assaulted another student inside a classroom in October of 2021.
The boy was found responsible for both assaults, and sentenced to a residential treatment facility until he turned 18. In November 2023, when he turned 18, he was released.
In retrospect, Byard believes the aftermath of the sexual assaults was exacerbated, “because the adults in the room did not get together and communicate,” referring to the school system, the sheriff’s office, the commonwealth’s attorney’s office and juvenile services.
“I think, probably, the boy should have been in an alternative placement, but we didn’t know all the facts. We didn’t know a lot of the facts until two days before things got started, at which time we were at warp speed trying to get the school year started, and things got lost,” said Byard.
A report commissioned by the school system and later ordered released by a judge faulted the school system for not carrying out its own investigation and threat assessment of the student, instead relying on the sheriff’s office. The school board said at the time of the report’s release last September that it has taken “significant actions,” including policy changes since the 2021 assaults.
Indicted
During the 2021 governor election, Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin campaigned on a “parents first” platform — and won. The day he was sworn in, he issued an executive order authorizing an investigation into Loudoun County schools, saying, “School administrators withheld key details and knowingly lied to parents about the assaults.”
Newly elected Attorney General Jason Miyares added, “Loudoun County Public Schools covered up a sexual assault on school grounds for political gain.”
Asked about those statements, which implied premeditation and intent on the part of the school system, Byard said, “I think they’re false.”
“First of all, the student pleaded guilty before the governor was elected. Sentence was imposed before he was inaugurated. The system worked — albeit very imperfectly, the system worked,” he said.
The special grand jury empaneled by Miyares’ office worked for months, seeking to clarify who knew what, and when. Byard testified before the grand jury twice.
Ultimately, in December 2022, Byard was indicted on a felony perjury charge and former superintendent Ziegler was indicted on three misdemeanors. Ziegler, who was fired after the release of the special grand jury report, was convicted last September of a retaliatory firing of a teacher unrelated to the 2021 sexual assaults. However, the conviction was later thrown out and he is set to be retried next year. (Ziegler was acquitted on a second charge, and a third count was dropped.)
Byard recalls the moment in December 2022 when he was told by the school division’s attorney that he and the superintendent had been indicted and Byard was being suspended without pay.
“I was marched out of the building, in a friendly way,” Byard said. “We’d decided that if the building was staked out (by reporters), we didn’t want a perp walk. They took me out to my car. The personnel head was in tears, as she asked for my parking pass. And, I learned what the feeling of being alone was, at that moment.”
Shortly before trial, Byard and his attorney, Jennifer Leffler, were offered a plea bargain. “In my case, they said, we’ll do a misdemeanor of making a false statement, $100 fine, but we’re gonna wait two years to sentence you.”
The pair thought they had a solid defense, so rejected the offer. The case went ahead.
The trial
According to Byard, “My name was barely mentioned during my trial. I felt like a spectator at my own trial — they were trying the school division, through me, as a surrogate.”
When jurors got the case, they only deliberated a short while before informing Circuit Court Judge Douglas Fleming that they had reached a verdict.
“We were confident. I think when they came back in an hour, we felt we’d probably won because if they really had to agonize over the decision, we wouldn’t have gotten a verdict that quickly. I later found out that basically the trial was over after the first day — they did not follow the opening arguments,” made by prosecutors for Attorney General Miyares’ office.
When the court clerk unfolded the paper upon which the jury foreman wrote the verdict, it read “Not guilty.”
“You are free to go, sir,” said Judge Fleming after the verdict was read in court.
With his legal troubles behind him, a meeting was held with the school system’s interim superintendent, chief human resources officer and director of strategic communications, where the group decided Byard would no longer be the voice or face of LCPS.
“It was actually a relief. At that point, I couldn’t see going back out there because I’d be a distraction. If I were there for the opening of school, they’d say, ‘Well, fresh off his perjury trial, here he is,” he laughed.
The group agreed Byard would concentrate on writing projects until his retirement, in December 2023.
Today, after the national scrutiny, the political posturing and the claim that the Loudoun County Public School system was in crisis, what does Byard think is really important to the parents of Loudoun County school students.
“Safety is number one. Two, that my child is successful, that they get a diploma, that they have life skills, that they have a career path,” Byard said. “We did surveys, and 87% of the population is very pleased with the school division.”
At the height of tensions during school board meetings, Byard said the chief of staff asked him to compile how many people participated in school board meetings.
“We had about 40 regulars and 20 part-timers. So, we had 60 people out of a population of 400,000 that were very agitated, very angry, but were not representative of the population as a whole,” said Byard. “It’s a very small minority that’s vocal, and creates this illusion.”
When Loudoun County public school students return to classes this fall a new, tighter cellphone policy will be in place, which could also affect how parents communicate with their child during the school day.
When public school students return to classes in Loudoun County, Virginia, this fall a new, tighter cellphone policy will be in place, which could also affect how parents communicate with their children during the school day.
The Loudoun County School Board approved a new policy Tuesday that details the use of student personal devices, including cellphones, earbuds and smartwatches.
Under the newly-passed Policy 8655, elementary school students are not permitted to use personal technology during the school day. Parents and guardians of children who require access to personally owned devices as part of an Individualized Education Plan accommodation will be able to request an exception.
Middle school students will be required to keep their personal devices silent and stored in their locker during the school day. They will be allowed to use the devices before and after school.
For high schoolers, a last-minute amendment from at-large board member Anne Donohue removed the option for students to keep their devices silenced, but in their pocket or backpack. She said students suggested that restriction would help reduce temptations that distract students from what’s happening in class.
“If the devices are allowed to be within the students’ pocket or backpack, our students have a hard time restraining themselves from checking it, if it’s within reach,” said Donohue.
Under Donahue’s amendment, high school students will be required to place their personal devices “in a classroom storage location, not on their person, or immediately accessible.”
Leesburg District board member Lauren Shernoff supported the additional restriction, based on her recent conversations with constituents about instituting the new policy.
“The feedback that I’ve gotten is that this isn’t tight enough, which did surprise me,” Shernoff said.
Shernoff told fellow board members she believes the firmer restrictions will be helpful.
“Kids are not tempted away from the valuable instruction that is happening in the classroom, and they can be fully connected to focusing on their academics and the learning, and I think that’s really the goal,” Shernoff said.
Board member April Chandler of the Algonkian District, who chaired the session, said they’ll have the ability to adjust the policy at the beginning of the school year.
“It will take parents, it will take teachers, it will take principals to support our students through this change,” Chandler said. “It might not be easy, but I believe the results will be well worth the effort.”
The new policy will also require parents and guardians to curtail texting students during the school day.
“LCPS recognizes parents need to know how to contact their child in case of an emergency. If there is an emergency, parents may contact the main office of their child’s school,” according to the policy.
Before the vote, the school system’s Chief Technology Officer Aaron Smith said parents are choosing to keep track of their child’s location, with the location information available on a smartwatch.
Editor’s note: Clarified that parents of students with Individualized Education Plans who use personal devices will be able to request an exception.
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The Loudoun County public school system in Northern Virginia has decided not to move ahead with a controversial plan to delay start times for more than a dozen school days.
The Loudoun County public school system in Northern Virginia has decided not to move ahead with a controversial plan to delay start times for more than a dozen school days.
After hearing negative feedback from families, however, the plan has been thrown out.
“This was a great example for us to show that when we solicit feedback, we are listening, and we can pivot,” said Loudoun County School Board member Lauren Shernoff. “I think that’s really important.”
Shernoff said she was initially in favor of the idea, but she quickly learned that many parents had concerns about child care and a disruption to routines for kids.
Under the plan, teachers would have started their days at the regular time, but students would have arrived two hours late. That would have occurred about two days per month.
The county has three professional development days already included in next year’s calendar, but LCPS Superintendent Aaron Spence said he was worried that those days wouldn’t provide enough time for teachers to finish all of their required training.
Shernoff posted the idea for the 16 delayed start days on her Facebook page, and it was clear to her that the public was generally against it.
“Normally I get a few likes, but I got over 500 comments,” Shernoff said. “People were definitely engaged and definitely concerned.”
Out of all the social media interactions she had regarding the plan, only about four people were in favor of it.
“Literally everyone else was very opposed,” Shernoff said. “We’re going to go back to the drawing board, and I’m glad we are.”
Spence said school system leaders will continue exploring “alternative options” that would allow teachers to complete their training while “minimizing” any impact on families.
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As some parents express lingering concerns about school start times, the school board in Loudoun County is expected to be briefed on the school division’s bell schedule next month.
As some parents express lingering concerns about school start times, the school board in Loudoun County is expected to be briefed on the school division’s bell schedule next month.
School board member Lauren Shernoff has been seeking parents’ feedback on the impact a change in start times is having on their routines.
In 2022, the school district announced plans to have some elementary schools start at 7:30 a.m. and others start at 8 a.m. Some middle schools were slated to start at 8:30 a.m., and others at 8:50 a.m. Most high schools had their start times shifted 15 minutes later.
Some parents, Shernoff said, are expressing concerns about the earlier starts.
“Just saying, this is my day-to-day life, and it’s really a struggle. My kids are miserable. Getting up in the morning, they’re tired. They don’t want to eat breakfast, because it’s so early. It’s pitch black at the bus stop,” Shernoff said.
The change to an earlier start time, Shernoff said, was only done for about half of elementary schools in the county. So, different elementary schoolers in the school division have different schedules.
“Now you have an equity issue, where some schools are on a different schedule for the same-aged kid,” Shernoff said.
The changes were made, Shernoff said, because of the bus driver shortage that came in the aftermath of the pandemic. The county was also trying to minimize second loads, when a driver has to make several trips to and from a school to get all of the students home.
Students not getting enough sleep or not eating breakfast, she said, factor into other concerns.
“Are they tardy more? Are they not getting to school on time, which has also been a concern in Loudoun?” Shernoff said.
Most of the concerns are coming from elementary school families, Shernoff said, but some high school parents have expressed frustration that their school day ends after 4 p.m., making it harder for students to get jobs on top of school work.
The solution, she said, may be recruiting more bus drivers or having start times shift so that some schools aren’t always starting earlier than others.
School system leaders are expected to discuss bell schedules with the board at a meeting April 9.
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Canine teams will start randomly searching Loudoun County high schools next month, Superintendent Aaron Spence said, as part of a plan to deter students from bringing illegal substances to school campuses.
Canine teams will start randomly searching Loudoun County, Virginia, high schools next month, Superintendent Aaron Spence said, as part of a plan to deter students from bringing illegal substances onto school campuses.
The scans, which will be conducted through a partnership with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and Leesburg Police, are scheduled to start in March. Students won’t be told about them in advance, but the school district said it will communicate with students’ families once the scans are done.
The concept of bringing canine teams into schools isn’t new. In 1989, for example, Fairfax County Public Schools announced plans to use drug-sniffing dogs in schools, The Washington Post reported.
However, a Fairfax County schools spokeswoman said that program isn’t in place in Virginia’s largest school district anymore. Arlington Public Schools also doesn’t have a program similar to the one Loudoun is launching, a spokesman there said.
Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland’s largest school district, has a memorandum of understanding with the county’s police department. But a school division spokesman said it doesn’t “reference or provide for random canine scans of our schools.”
Nonetheless, Loudoun County leaders are hopeful the sweeps will serve as an effective deterrent.
“We’re sending the message that we mean business. This is serious, we need to take this seriously,” said Dan Adams, a Loudoun schools spokesman. “The kids need to keep this stuff out of our schools, and keep it out of their homes and keep it out of their pockets, because this is some really dangerous stuff.”
As part of the planned scans, the dog units will walk through common spaces and unoccupied classrooms. They won’t be “going up to kids and sniffing their pockets or anything like that,” Adams said.
Michele Bowman, spokeswoman for the Leesburg Police Department, said the dogs will be searching for illegal narcotics, but they’re not trained to search for marijuana.
The school division is anticipating the sweeps will take about an hour and a half, with minimal disruption to class time.
The program, Bowman said, has been in the works for months.
If a dog alerts an officer to a substance it discovers, police will have the opportunity to search lockers, Bowman said. She described a false positive alert as “very unlikely.”
The school district will evaluate the program’s effectiveness at the end of the school year and consider whether to implement it again next fall.
Adams, with the school division, said it’s one step the county is taking to address what he called a “crisis in our community.”
“This isn’t an issue where we’re going to be able to ‘consequence’ our way out of it,” Adams said. “There’s not going to be a magic fix.”
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for a high school French teacher who was fired after he refused to use a transgender student’s pronouns argued before the Supreme Court of Virginia Friday that the school violated his constitutional right to speak freely and exercise his religion. An attorney for the school said the teacher violated the school’s anti-discrimination policy.
Vlaming’s lawsuit was brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group that has filed six similar lawsuits — three in Virginia, and one each in Ohio, Kansas and Indiana.
ADF attorney Christopher Schandevel told the high court that Vlaming was not fired for something he said, but “for something he couldn’t say.”
“This is a case about compelled speech,” he said.
Schandevel told the justices that Vlaming tried to accommodate the student by using his masculine name and avoiding the use of pronouns, but the student, his parents and the school told him he was required to use the student’s male pronouns.
In his lawsuit, Vlaming said he could not use the student’s pronouns because of his “sincerely held religious and philosophical” beliefs “that each person’s sex is biologically fixed and cannot be changed.” Vlaming also said he would be lying if he used the student’s pronouns.
Justice Thomas Mann pushed back against the argument that using the boy’s new name but not his pronouns would allow the teacher to avoid discriminating against him.
“What’s the difference?” he said.
“So why is (Vlaming’s) right not to lie more important than (the student’s) right to basic education and to not be discriminated against,” Mann said.
Alan Schoenfeld, an attorney who represents the school board and school administrators, said Vlaming’s speech was part of his official teaching duties and his refusal to use the student’s pronouns clearly violated the anti-discrimination policy.
”A public school employee is not at liberty to declare he will not comply with school policy,” he said.
Justice Wesley Russell Jr. said that if Vlaming treated all students the same by using their names, “how does that discriminate?”
Schoenfeld said it’s “inevitable” that pronouns would come into play in a classroom setting. Vlaming once inadvertently referred to the student as “she” in class, but immediately apologized.
After the hearing, Vlaming said he had hoped that he and the school board could have come to an agreement.
“I can disagree with my students without provoking my students. I’m there to teach French,” he said.
The justices did not indicate when they expect to issue a ruling.
In a federal lawsuit filed by the ADF in Ohio, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Shawnee State University violated the free speech rights of philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether when they disciplined him for refusing to use a transgender student’s pronouns. In a settlement, the university agreed to pay $400,000 in damages and Meriwether’s legal fees.
