Gov. Glenn Youngkin: Our polices have put parents back in charge
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin sits down with Martha MacCallum to discuss how his policies are benefiting the state.
Scott Smith, the Loudoun County, Va., parent arrested while objecting during a school board meeting following the alleged sexual assault of his daughter by a biological male in a restroom deserves a "universal apology," Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin told Fox News on Thursday.
"I think that across the board, there should be a universal apology to Mr. Smith," he said. "He stood up for his daughter's rights and his daughter had been sexually assaulted."
Youngkin highlighted the fact Smith was not only socially "cancelled" but dragged out by county police at the school board's whim.
"It's just unacceptable."
Youngkin, speaking with "The Story" anchor Martha MacCallum from the governor's mansion in Richmond, said he is conversely very proud of Commonwealth Attorney General Jason Miyares and his grand jury, who examined the facts of the case which ultimately led to the indictment of now-former Loudoun Superintendent Scott Ziegler on a lying-related charge and his firing.
"The recent findings from a grand jury in Loudoun County just illuminate the reality that we knew what was going on in Loudoun County, and it took a change in governor, a governor's directive, a grand jury led by our attorney general to shine a light on the fact that a parent had been escorted by police from a school board meeting for complaining and protesting that his daughter had been assaulted in a restroom and the superintendent covered it up," Youngkin said.
The governor said the ordeal showed there needs to be a consistent effort to reestablish the primary role of parents in their children's lives and schooling.
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin holds a campaign event in Amherst, Va., October 28, 2021 (Charles Creitz/Fox News)
MacCallum asked Youngkin his thoughts on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, under whom the FBI was told it "needed to keep an eye" on parents like Smith who disrupted school board meetings.
Youngkin said Miyares, by contrast, is someone he "deeply appreciates" for his work in this and other cases, while adding "misguided politics" seem to have crept into the federal-level office.
"To suggest that parents weren't doing anything other than caring for their children the way that parents were supposed to when they stood up at school board meetings to complain and protest and ask for transparency in what was going on in their children's lives – this is the reality in Virginia today," the governor said. "We are empowering parents. We have transparency."
Youngkin added the most important message, as it was during his campaign against former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, is that parents and transparency matter in education.
YOUNGKIN DONATES SALARY TO VETERANS' CAUSES
Glenn Youngkin, governor of Virginia, speaks prior to signing executive actions in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Loudoun County, Va. drew national attention in 2021 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.
The special grand jury report released last week 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.
Commonwealth Attorney General Jason Miyares' office filed three misdemeanor charges against Ziegler this week, and one felony perjury indictment was filed against school spokesman Wayde Byard.