The parents’ revolt in Loudoun County, Virginia, continues to reverberate. A grand jury has now indicted former (fired last week) Superintendent of Schools Scott Ziegler and Public Information Officer Wayde Byard:
Former Superintendent Scott Ziegler is charged with one count of false publication, one count of prohibited conduct, and one count of penalizing an employee for a court appearance. All are misdemeanors. Ziegler was fired last week, one day after the grand jury issued the findings of its eight-month investigation into the Loudoun County Public Schools’ sexual assault scandal.
Public Information Officer Wayde Byard was indicted with a count of felony perjury, a charge that carries a sentence of up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
The special grand jury was empaneled in April by the Office of the Attorney General to investigate the divisions handling of two sexual assaults by the same student in a matter of months.
As you likely recall, the victim’s father was thrown to the ground by police officers and forcibly removed from a public school board meeting for objecting to what happened to his daughter. Frankly, I think there are quite a few public school officials who, if all the facts were known, could be under indictment.
