by Ian Prior
For several years, parents in Loudoun County, Virginia have been clamoring for accountability, transparency, higher standards, and safety in their schools. They haven’t been getting it, and that’s why new leadership is needed.
The brunt of the parents’ grievances has been largely directed toward the Loudoun County School Board, which has been embroiled in several scandals that remain unresolved.
In October 2021, a male student at Broad Run High School was arrested for sexual battery and abduction of a fellow student. Only a few days later, it was reported that the same student had previously committed two counts of forcible sodomy on a fellow student at Stone Bridge High School. The male assailant, who had gained access to the female bathroom on account of his claim of “gender fluidity,” is said to have been wearing a skirt during the assault.
The anxious parents in Loudoun County have been demanding answers as to why a student accused of rape was allowed to quietly transfer to another school where he reoffended. The scandal prompted an independent investigation into the tragedy. The LCSB has emphatically refused to make the resulting Independent Review available to the Loudoun parental community.
As a consequence, the Virginia Attorney General ordered a Special Grand Jury, impaneled to investigate the Loudoun County School Board. Their concluding report stated, “We believe that throughout this ordeal the LCPS [Loudoun County Public Schools] administrators were looking out for their own interests instead of the interests of LCPS. This invariably led to a stunning lack of openness, transparency, and accountability to both the public and the Special Grand Jury.” The Special Grand Jury further found several points at which administrators in these public schools could have stepped in to prevent the tragic assaults of these children, and yet, “They failed at every juncture.”
In 2023, the dereliction of duty from these school administrators would again make national news when school administrators in 16 high schools in northern Virginia did not notify students of their national merit recognition in time for college scholarship deadlines.
Juan Pablo Segura, a native Virginian, a former CEO, and now the Republican candidate for Virginia’s Senate District 31, has taken the entrepreneurial spirit that led him at a very young age to establish and lead two companies to the heart of the battle for educational reform in Loudoun County, and the radical opposition to this effort has taken notice.
Segura has launched a full-on effort to bring accountability and reform to Loudoun County.
On April 11, 2023, Segura sued the LCSB (Juan Pablo Segura vs. LCSB) to seek a court order that would force the release of the Independent Review to the community. He then doubled down on this action by founding Renew Virginia, a political action committee, which exists to help qualified candidates of any party to run for the Loudoun School Board and replace the bureaucratic, self-serving school officials responsible for the present crisis.
He also publicly called for support of what he called “common sense legislation,” seeking to enact Sage’s Law in Virginia, a law that would require school officials to inform at least one parent or custodian if children in their care manifested openly a desire to commit suicide, or if a child was declaring himself/herself to be a different gender than his/her biological gender. Sage’s Law would also have obliged school officials to inform pertinent authorities if it became known to them that a child was suffering domestic sexual abuse. This law arose as a response to another school tragedy suffered by a teenager who was a victim of sexual trafficking, rape, and abuse. The law was voted down by the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate.
The Segura campaign is now amplifying the voices of these concerned parents, and the challenge to these reformers is turning nasty. Loudoun County parents and Segura’s family are now being threatened by individuals on the Facebook page of the “Loudoun Love Warriors (LLW)” for speaking publicly at School Board meetings. LLW actions oscillated from getting parents who spoke up fired to threats of bodily harm. “Let’s make him unemployable…” and “…Ruin his livelihood,” they wrote. Others from the “Loudon Love Warriors” threatened: “Let’s actually destroy them. Grind them.” “…SOMETHING has to happen to one of them,” and “I’m so ready to show up with guns….”
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office has initiated an investigation into the threats. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has also called on public officials to condemn the incitement to violence.
Segura has publicly called for his Democratic opponents to condemn this violent rhetoric. They have not.
Segura is also taking legal action against one of the offenders who are threatening the Loudoun County community.
In the face of these threats, Segura remained steely and promised to remain undeterred:
“Parents in Loudoun want transparency, a higher standard of education, and accountability from their school board…. I jumped into this race to make real change, to be a voice for parents and children. And I have no intention of backing down….I will continue to defend and protect our community and their right to bring education reform to this district.”
That’s the leadership Virginia needs.
Ian Prior is Senior Advisor at America First Legal and author of Parents of the World, Unite! How to Save Our Schools from the Left’s Radical Agenda.
Republished with permission from The Republican Standard.
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