Loudoun County sexual assault victim's mother plans Title IX lawsuit against school board

The mother of the girl who got sexually assaulted in a Loudoun County high school girls' restroom on May 28 will file a Title IX lawsuit against the school board, she said in a statement. Her lawyer gave Fox News details about the lawsuit.

Jessica Smith, the mother of the girl who was assaulted at Stone Bridge High School in May, responded to a court proceeding on Monday. The Loudoun County Juvenile Court had previously found a male student "not innocent" of charges of forcible sodomy and forcible fellatio against Smith's daughter in the May 28 incident at Stone Bridge. The same student pleaded "no contest" on Monday in a separate case to two charges of abduction and sexual battery involving an incident at Broad Run High School on October 6, Fox News reported from the juvenile court. The student accepted a plea agreement in the October 6 case.

Smith said the "no contest" plea "vindicates my daughter against her attacker," despite it being a separate case and a different victim. Smith also claimed that "misguided policies of our local government officials" bear some responsibility for the crimes.

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"Today is not just another day for our family," Smith began in a statement provided to Fox News. "It is a day that further vindicates my daughter against her attacker, holds him accountable for what he did, and helps advance the healing of both our daughter and our family from the suffering we have endured over these past months."

"My daughter’s struggle, and that of our family, still continues," she added. "We will not stop, we will not rest, until all who are responsible for this tragedy are held accountable."

Smith announced a forthcoming Title IX lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board, claiming that the lawsuit aims to ensure "that no child, and no parent, will ever have to suffer what we have as a result of the misguided policies of our local government officials."

"What we have been going through should be a lesson for parents across the Commonwealth," she added. "And, it should also serve as a call to action for all parents like us to stand up against local school boards that don’t put parents and their children first."

While many parents have pointed to the assaults in the debate over the controversial pro-transgender Policy 8040, that policy was not in effect on May 28. Autumn Johnson, the lawyer who represents Smith, told Fox News that the Title IX lawsuit will refer to Policy 1040, which commits Loudoun County Public Schools to an "equitable, safe, and inclusive environment" for "all persons regardless of… gender identity."

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Johnson also noted that the lawsuit will fault the school board for keeping the assailant in public schools despite the May 28 incident.

The Smith case gained nationwide attention after Superintendent Scott Ziegler said in a June 22 school board meeting that "the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist." Following that statement, the May 28 victim's father, Scott Smith, flew into a rage and was arrested and eventually convicted on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

On October 15, Ziegler apologized for these remarks, saying that he "wrongly interpreted" a question "about discipline incidents in bathrooms." He said that he interpreted the question wrongly because he was "viewing the question in light of" the debate around 8040.

"I regret that my comments were misleading and I apologize for the distress that error caused families," he said.

The school district has denied allegations of a cover-up. Wayne Byard, a spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools, told Fox News in late October that the school district reported the alleged assault on May 28 to the sheriff's office immediately. Byard noted that while the superintendent identified the school board of the assault on May 28, he could not disclose it to the public at the time due to an ongoing investigation.

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LCPS declined to comment on the "no contest" plea or on Johnson's comments. Members of the Loudoun County School Board did not respond to Fox News' request for comment by press time.