Your Turn — Unacceptable school situation

Published 10:43 am Thursday, December 15, 2022

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

“A stunning lack of transparency.” “They failed at every juncture.” It’s hard to understate just how damning the Special Grand Jury Report on the Loudoun County Public Schools fiasco turned out to be. Two young women were assaulted, and both instances were preventable.

Worse, rather than put student safety first, administrators circled the wagons to protect themselves.

What happened in Loudoun County is difficult to comprehend. The failure of leadership to protect children is massive and inexcusable.

Email newsletter signup

Two young women were assaulted by the same boy, first while in the girl’s bathroom while wearing girls’ clothes. Warning signs abounded in both cases. Worse, after the sexual assaults were reported, Administrators sought to protect themselves and the system rather than the victim and her family.

This fiasco represents a perfect storm of what happens when far left ideology is applied in the real world. The system’s public decision on transgender bathroom usage backfired in exactly the way opponents had warned, all while the matter was a topic of white-hot public debate.

Administrators held a video call with board members not long after they were told of the assault. What took place at that meeting became a case of ‘institutional amnesia,” according to the Grand Jury. The board circled the wagons on a video call, and then promptly developed institutional amnesia as soon as they were asked about that meeting.

It’s difficult to find words to communicate how bad this situation was. The Special Grand Jury wanted to indict the school system’s attorney for witness tampering but were unable to do so under Virginia law.

Teachers walked in on the assault but did nothing. Teachers warned administration that the student was dangerous, but they did nothing. While the school board has fired the superintendent behind this disaster, no one else has been held accountable. House Republicans are examining this report closely and will act this session to see that our children are kept safe and never again sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.

Horror stories like the ones in Loudoun County are what happen when woke policies meet reality. Republicans will keep our children safe in schools. Even local governments run by Democrats realize that it’s time for law and order in Virginia again.

Democrats want to turn concerned parents into felons when parents oversee their children.

What happened in Loudoun County was heartbreaking to see happen. Republicans always must clean up messes made by Democrats and yet people still think Democrats know what they are doing. They do not have a clue. I am not “woke” but I am awake, awake enough to tell you that the Lord can help us with all our problems if we start turning to him more often.

Del. Tommy Wright can be reached via email at DelTWright@House.Virginia.gov or (804) 698-1061.