Loudoun County Schools Chief Out After Sexual Assault Controversy: ‘Someone Had to Pay’

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) chief of staff, Mark Smith, is out of that role, an LCPS board member told 7News.

The reported removal happened following the school system’s issues with two sexual assault incidents at two campuses, the outlet said Wednesday.

“He had obligations under Title IX and they weren’t met. He was not a Title IX expert, but it was his job,” a board member noted, according to the outlet’s Nick Minock.

“Someone had to pay and it was him,” the board member added:

NEW: A Loudoun County school board member tells me the LCPS Chief of Staff “is gone.”

“He had obligations under Title IX and they weren’t met. He was not a Title IX expert, but it was his job,” the school board member said. “Someone had to pay and it was him.” @7NewsDC

— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) January 19, 2022

The county is now searching for a person who has Title IX experience, the outlet continued:

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that a sexual assault took place in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School on May 28, 2021. They said that they arrested a 14-year-old boy in the case. It took place approximately one month before Scott Smith’s arrest at the school board meeting. Smith is the father of the female victim. And the problems on school property weren’t limited to Stone Bridge. On Oct. 6th, a Sheriff’s Department tweet detailed another alleged assault by the same student at Broad Run High School.

This resulted in hundreds of parents being upset during school board meetings regarding how the district handled the investigation of the first assault.

In December, conservatives looking for information regarding the LCPS alleged sexual assault coverup and other issues overwhelmed the school division with more than 500 Virginia Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA) requests.

According to Breitbart News:

Loudoun County schools have been a hotbed of political activity this year, as parents realized the district was teaching the tenets of the race-essentialist indoctrination scheme called critical race theory and appears to have covered up at least two instances of sexual assault in an effort to pass a sweeping transgender policy allowing males to use female bathrooms and play against females in sports.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, an independent report regarding how LCPS dealt with sexual assaults in two separate high schools was finished, however, district officials will not release it to the public, the 7 News report said.

Wayde Byard of LCPS pointed to Virginia Code and attorney-client privilege for not releasing the information, the outlet stated.

“Of course, they are not going to release what happened. What happened is horrific. There are so many high-up players involved in this cover-up. It’s just unbelievable,” Scott Smith commented.