LEESBURG, Va. — The trial for fired Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler began Monday in Leesburg, Virginia. That comes after a judge denied a request to drop charges last week.
This all stems from an investigation into the school district's handling of sexual assaults at two schools under Ziegler's leadership. A teen boy sexually assaulted a female student at school in May 2021 but was allowed to transfer to another school within the county, where he sexually assaulted another student in October 2021.
The incident — and the alleged mishandling by the county — sparked widespread protests at school boards and national attention. The father of one of the victims was even captured on video being arrested and removed from a meeting.
Ziegler is facing three misdemeanor charges in total for two separate sets of accusations related to the handling of the assaults. These charges follow a special grand jury investigation by Attorney General Jason Miyares over how LCPS handled the assaults. The school board fired Ziegler in December 2022 after the grand jury report criticized the district's response.
The first trial on the first set of two counts -- conflict of interest and penalizing an employee for serving on a grand jury -- began Monday with a 4.5-hour jury selection, which ended with 9 Loudoun County residents chosen from a pool of 33. The jury will consist of seven women and two men. Opening statements were also made by both the defense and prosecutors.
A judge recently approved the release of the independent investigation into the sexual assault cases, after months of demands from parents to release it for the sake of transparency. Among the report's conclusions was that the school system should not have delayed its Title IX investigation after the first incident at Stone Bridge High School.
Ziegler also faces a charge of false publication for comments made during a June 2021 school board meeting.
Ziegler and an LCPS public information officer were charged in this case last year, but the other defendant was acquitted in June.
RELATED: Report publicly released on Loudoun County Public Schools' handling of sexual assault investigation