It wasn’t all that long ago that a majority of members on the School Board in neighboring Loudoun County thought Superintendent Scott Ziegler was doing such a fantastic job that they bestowed a $30,000-a-year raise on the $300,000-a-year superintendent.
They did this even as extremely serious questions were being raised about the school system’s response to a number of sexual-assault cases within schools. Instead of doing their duty and getting to the bottom of the matter, School Board members and other Loudoun leaders were busy circling the wagons in an effort to fend off public scrutiny.
Fast-forward to a week ago. The School Board, motivated by self-preservation if nothing else, fired Ziegler after results of a grand-jury investigation suggested massive failings leading all the way to the top of the administrative pyramid. After the firing, it was announced by state officials that the grand jury had indicted both Ziegler and the school system’s longtime spokesman.
(It seems likely that a key reason the grand jury couldn’t nail School Board members for malfeasance is that they kept their heads in the sand throughout the entire ordeal, never seeking out the full story from staff.)
So now, rather than circling the wagons, county leaders are scurrying about, trying to ensure blame is cast anywhere but on themselves.
It’s sad that it took a new attorney general and governor (Jason Miyares and Glenn Youngkin) to force the issue and have the special grand jury set up. They turned the investigation over to a take-no-prisoners former Arlington commonwealth’s attorney, who was able to keep its progress under wraps (as it should be) until the grand jury’s report was released and the indictments were unsealed.
Anyone believe that, had Terry McAuliffe defeated Youngkin and Attorney General Mark Herring held on to his post rather than being unseated by Miyares, any of this would have transpired? We have our doubts.
The looming question is whether voters in Loudoun County will do the right thing next year and hold School Board members accountable for a brazen disinclination to explore the internal workings of a school-system administration that appears to have done such a poor job of protecting students entrusted into its care.
Stay vigilant, parents. Loudoun County is hardly a unique case, we’d wager.