During a school board meeting Tuesday, angry parents said Superintendent Ziegler should resign. One said, “Your moral compasses are busted. You, Dr. Ziegler, and our School Board, everyone of you, are complicit in these crimes against our children.” Another said, “When the Catholic Church passed predator priest from parish to parish, the walls came eventually crashing down on them. And they were finally held accountable for the abuse. When is Dr. Ziegler and this board going to be held accountable?”
In a statement Wednesday, the school district said it can’t begin its own investigation until law enforcement concludes theirs. “School Board members are typically not given details of disciplinary matters,” it added. “Consequently, members of the Loudoun County School Board were not aware of the specific details of this incident until it was reported in media outlets earlier this week.”
Smith, however, says, “We were under the impression from the prosecutor that this sexual predator was being held on in-house arrest with an ankle monitor and would not return to school until these court sessions were done. You are innocent until you are proven guilty; I understand that. But we have to protect everyone.”
Prosecutors have reportedly told the Smiths that both assault cases will be addressed at the suspect’s October 25 court appearance. “It has been so hard to keep my mouth shut and wait this out,” says Scott Smith. “It has been the most powerless thing I’ve ever been through. I don’t care if [the suspect] is homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, transsexual. He’s a sexual predator.”
Scott Smith: ‘I Won’t Stay Quiet Anymore’
Smith says staying silent wasn’t an option after his family learned about a second assault by the same student. As soon as he had confirmation that the same suspect was involved at both schools, “I basically said that’s it. I won’t stay quiet anymore.”
Washington Examiner opinion writer Becket Adams calls what happened to Smith “insult on top of insult.” He adds, “Unsurprisingly, the ordeal has inspired Smith to get involved in local politics, something he says he hasn’t really cared about until now.”
When Ingraham asked Smith how he felt about U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland writing letters about angry school board attendees, he replied, “That’s really scary that our government will weaponize themselves against parents and [use] my video…to spread fear. That’s wrong. I am not a bully. I am not a racist. I love everyone. I love this country. I want better stuff for it.”
On Wednesday, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wrote about the incident, calling it “A School Horror Story That Didn’t Fit the Narrative.” For many parents and lawmakers, he writes, it’s “disturbing…to see Washington’s heavy-handed education policy infused in their districts from the top down.” Perkins adds, “This is just a desperate move by the Left to intimidate parents into silence so they can continue the indoctrination of children.”
Perkins urges concerned parents across the country to contact their local school board and keep attending meetings. Because these boards serve communities via taxpayer dollars, he says, “Every one of us can—and should—show up to these meetings and demand the truth about what’s happening behind classroom doors.”
