A jury has found the former Superintendent of the Loudoun County Public School District guilty of abusing his power after he fired a teacher cooperating with an investigation into a transgender student who raped a female student in 2021. Following a four-day trial and countless deliberations, Scott Ziegler was convicted of retaliation and is facing up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
According to the Daily Wire, a jury of six women and one man reached a verdict on Friday that Ziegler unjustifiably terminated former special education teacher Erin Brooks. Brooks had been cooperating with prosecutors in the case of a transgender student raping a female student in the women’s washroom of the school.
After prosecutors began investigating Stone Bridge High School for seemingly sweeping the bathroom rape under the rug in 2021, Brooks informed them of an unrelated instance of sexual assault against her that had been mishandled, and was subsequently fired by Ziegler for “cooperating with the special grand jury.” Reportedly, school board member John Beatty testified that Ziegler falsely told the board that Brooks was fired for allegedly “giving private information to a conservative activist, and for giving private information to the grand jury.”
As a result of the apparent punishment he exacted on Brooks, Ziegler was found guilty of using his authority against someone exercising their rights.
During the trial, prosecutors provided ample examples of wrongful retaliation against Brooks, who sought justice after a disabled student grabbed her and her teaching assistant Laurie Vandermeulen’s genitals several times a day and made “crude motions with his tongue.” After coming forward with these accusations, school administrators provided Brooks and Vandermeulen cardboard called “no-no hands” to “hold in front of their groins” and offered to purchase aprons often worn by dog groomers to “slow down penetration.”
In hopes of being taken more seriously, Vandermeulen asked Ian Prior, a school board member who regularly spoke at meetings, to read a letter stressing that she and Brooks were being frequently assaulted in class and needed administrators to intervene.
After hearing Prior’s speech, which did not name the student directly, the school principal removed the disabled student from Brooks’ classroom.
In addition, principal Diane Mackey gave Brooks a glowing teacher review in 2022, but, after she asked for a day off to testify in front of the grand jury, switched gears and wrote a negative evaluation of Brooks in May, suggesting Ziegler fire her.
Although Vandermeulen kept a record of the assaults, Ziegler’s lawyer accused her of “smuggling private information,” but ultimately failed to demonstrate that she violated school policies.
Shockingly, Ziegler’s attorney said it was Brooks’ fault the disabled student sexually assaulted her because she frustrated him “by refusing to give him an iPad.”
Prosecutor Theo Stamos responded that there was no proof of “motive” as to why Brooks and Vandermeulen would voluntarily be sexually assaulted or deprive the student of an iPad, which is a necessary communication device for disabled students.
Despite accusations that Brooks mishandled the situation with the student, prosecutors used Mackey’s negative evaluation of Brooks to demonstrate the school made up the allegations to “justify Ziegler’s desire to fire her.” Notably, the disabled student didn’t enter Brooks’ classroom between evaluations, voiding the validity of the negative one.
“She made it up after the fact. Isn’t it brazen how she did this?” asked prosecutor Brandon Wrobleski. “We can’t have more sexual assaults coming out. Anyone who brings sexual assaults to public attention is gone. That’s what happened here,” he added. “Look at how well the Family works together when a dissident speaks out. She goes from Teacher of the Year to fired.”
After sentencing is decided on January 4, Ziegler, who did not testify at the trial, will be tried on a final misdemeanor charge for falsely stating there had been no sexual assaults at Loudoun County schools.
In 2021, prosecutors appointed by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares began investigating Ziegler after a trans-identified male student wearing a skirt entered the female washroom at Stone Bridge High School and raped a ninth-grade girl.
Although, as independent news outlet Reduxx points out, the boy was “charged with two counts of forcible sodomy, one count of anal sodomy, and one count of forcible fellatio,” Ziegler and the school district sparked outrage for attempting to conceal the incident from the public.
The Loudoun County school board made headlines for brushing the assault under the rug in an effort to ensure a policy allowing students to use whatever washroom they pleased was enshrined.
Months later, the boy, who was supposed to be on house arrest, was arrested at Broad Run High School and was charged with sexual battery and abduction after forcing a female student into a classroom against her will and proceeding to touch her inappropriately.
The boy was later found guilty of all charges and sent to a youth detention center. He has reportedly been placed on the sex offender registry.
