n LOUDOUN
Pg. 4 | n LEESBURG
Pg. 10 | n PUBLIC SAFETY
Pg. 16 | n OBITUARIES
Pg. 25 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
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YEARS IN BUSINESS PAGES 21-23
VOL. 8, NO. 4
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DECEMBER 15, 2022
Ziegler, Byard Face Criminal Charges in Assault Scandal BY ALEXIS GUSTIN agustin@loudounnow.com
Former Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent Scott Ziegler and long-time school division spokesman Wayde Byard appeared in Circuit Court on Tuesday afternoon, one day after the unsealing of criminal indictments against them. The special grand jury empaneled to investigate how the school division handled two on-campus sexual assaults committed by the same student in 2021 issued the indictments during its eight-month investigation. Ziegler faces three misdemeanor charges for “prohibited conduct,” penalizing an employee for a court appearance or service on jury panel, and providing false information to a publication. Byard is charged with felony perjury. Byard spoke briefly after a hearing Tuesday, saying he had been placed on
Former Loudoun Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler
School Division Spokesman Wayde Byard
leave without pay. “At this point I can’t discuss any specific charges because neither my attorney nor myself have been given any indication of what I’ve been alleged to do. I plan on pleading not guilty is all I can say,”
he said. Byard, who has been the school division’s public information officer since 2000, is also implicated in the special grand jury’s report last week that led to Ziegler’s firing. The grand jury found he
wrote the email to parents from Stone Bridge High School principal Tim Flynn the day of the first assault, which addressed the father of the victim being escorted out of the building. It made no mention of the assault on his daughter the same day, or that the assailant had gone missing inside the school for hours afterward. The jury wrote the email “deliberately makes no mention of the sexual assault that took place just hours earlier” and was “jeopardizing the safety of all students.” Ziegler—who was terminated without cause in a unanimous School Board vote Dec. 6, an action that allows him to continue to receive his $323,000 salary for a year plus benefits—on Tuesday issued a statement criticizing the special grand jury’s work as a politically motivated attack. CHARGES FILED continues on page 35
Morse: ‘I Think the Board Was Misled’ Smith Named Interim Superintendent; Policy Review Begins BY ALEXIS GUSTIN agustin@loudounnow.com
Alexis Gustin/Loudoun Now
Chair Jeff Morse (Dulles) speaks to the media for the first time since the Loudoun County School Board fired superintendent Scott Ziegler on Tuesday. On Dec. 8, during an emergency meeting, the Board instated Interim Superintendent Dan Smith.
Continuing to deal with the fallout from the special grand jury investigation, the School Board last week appointed an interim superintendent, and this week began work to rebuild public trust. The School Board held an emergency meeting Dec. 8 to appoint Chief of Staff Dan Smith as the interim replacement for
Superintendent Scott Ziegler, who was unanimously fired two nights before. “I think the board was misled,” Chair Jeff Morse (Dulles) said about the decisions to fire Ziegler. He said he felt the board didn’t have all the information it needed about the sexual assault cases to manage the division. Morse said the decision came after the board reviewed the special grand jury report, which he said was very
comprehensive and included information of which School Board was previously unaware. He said board members saw a lot of issues that needed to be addressed immediately to restore faith with the community. “I understand, I completely understand. There was a complete breakdown POLICY REVIEW continues on page 34
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