Loudoun County parent Scott Smith sounds off on superintendent's firing: 'One of many who hurt my child'
Loudoun County, Va. parent Scott Smith and America First Legal senior adviser Ian Prior react to the firing of superintendent Scott Zeigler over his handling of two sexual assaults by a transgender student on 'America Reports.'
Loudoun County father Scott Smith called for more heads to roll Thursday after superintendent Scott Ziegler was fired over the school's mishandling of two sexual assault incidents, telling Fox News that Zeigler's termination should be the first of many in the district.
"My reaction is this: It’s a year too late," Scott Smith said on "America Reports." "He should have been fired a year ago. The school board had what they needed, you know, they had an independent investigation…that was not released to the public, so the fact that they are hiding behind [the fact] that Ziegler did not release information to them and they are now horrified, and they voted unanimously to fire him, well, they are all responsible, too."
"So, unfortunately, today we are not celebrating," Smith added. "He’s just one of many that hurt my child and many others."
Ziegler was fired by the school board Tuesday night in response to a grand jury report on the district's handling of two sexual assaults committed by a "gender-fluid" student. The Northern Virginia suburb drew national attention after Smith publicly accused the school of covering up the assaults and letting the student, a biological male who was wearing a skirt when he allegedly assaulted a female student in the girls' bathroom, transfer to another school before apparently sexually assaulting another girl.
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Parents protesting in Loudoun County, Virginia, on June 22, 2021. (Reuters)
The special grand jury report released Monday agreed that the school displayed a "stunning lack of openness, transparency and accountability, both to the public and to the special grand jury" about how they reacted to the assaults on campus. The report also condemned Ziegler for denying any knowledge of the assault at a school board meeting.
Smith said Loudoun County Public Schools put their own interests ahead of the safety of students, arguing that they had "ample time" to fire Ziegler but chose not to in a display of "reckless indifference."
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"This is a case of the school board doing the right thing for the wrong reasons," he said. "They had ample opportunity for the past year to do this. They know he lied to 400,000 plus Loudoun County residents at the June 22nd school board meeting but did not do it until the pressure got too hot."
ASHBURN, VA - AUGUST 11: Loudoun County School Board members vote to enact Policy 8040 during a school board meeting at the Loudoun County Public Schools Administration Building on August 11, 2021 in Ashburn, Va. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images) (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
"As far as the other administrators, we are talking about the deputy superintendent, talking about the lawyer for the school division, talking about the director of safety and services down the list of people that not just failed, they failed with reckless indifference, they knew about what was happening. They were ‘disturbed,’ was one quote yet did nothing."
Scott was wrestled to the ground by police during a Loudoun Country public school board meeting in June 2021 where he confronted Ziegler and other school officials about what actions they would take after his daughter's alleged sexual assault in the school.
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"When you look at how you were treated, juxtapose with what Ziegler knew at the time and what he actually said, what goes through your mind?" Fox News host John Roberts asked Scott.
"We did not need to be there. There were 500-plus parents, moms and dads trying to make sense of the radical perversion that they were trying to push in our schools. They are still trying to push it," he said.
"A year later I’ve been involved in this for 18 months now, nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing has changed. It's time to change," Smith concluded. "The firing of Ziegler is great, but he’s just the first one that needs to go."
Fox News' Kristine Parks contributed to this report.