The chief of staff for the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) finds himself out of a job tonight.
Local outlets have confirmed that LCPS Chief of Staff Mark Smith lost his job. Smith is the district’s sole casualty from the fallout over its handling of multiple sexual assaults.
The Daily Wire reports:
A school board member told news channel WJLA, which first reported on the change, that “he had obligations under Title IX and they weren’t met. He was not a Title IX expert, but it was his job… Someone had to pay and it was him.” Title IX is a federal regulation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in schools.
WJLA cited the anonymous school board member after the district’s spokesman, Wayde Byard, hung up on its reporter twice when the reporter asked who the district’s current chief of staff was, the outlet reported.
The removal undercuts Superintendent Scott Ziegler’s initial partial apology, in which he blamed the federal government and said Title IX rules prevented it from doing more–possibly an attempt to hide behind politicization by alluding to Donald Trump’s previous education secretary. Ziegler said a main way the school system was learning from the incident was that it would lobby to change Title IX.
“It is important to know that Title IX directs how schools must investigate allegations of sexual harassment/assault and provides equal protection for both victims and the alleged perpetrators. Throughout these recent events, the Loudoun County Public Schools complied with our obligations under Title IX. However, we have found the process outlined under Title IX by the U.S. Department of Education to be insufficient in addressing issues at the K-12 level. We believe the process could be strengthened with some reforms,” he said.