Loudoun County schools were already in the national spotlight over a pair of sexual assaults on campuses, and were the subject of an investigation ordered by the Virginia governor. Then a teacher went public in 2022 with allegations that officials failed to stop a student from inappropriately touching her, testifying to a special grand jury.
The verdict followed a five-day trial during which Brooks offered emotional testimony about the incidents Brooks told jurors that a 10-year-old, nonverbal student with intellectual disabilities inappropriately touched her and an assistant dozens of times a day, while school officials offered inadequate fixes such as a piece of cardboard to fend off the touching“It’s not days,” Brooks testified about how long she endured the touching without relief. “It’s weeks and months.”
The attacks also made Loudoun a national focus of a roiling debate over what bathrooms transgender students should use. The perpetrator was wearing a skirt during the first attack, which occurred in a girl’s bathroom, but the teen’s mother and teachers said he was not gender-fluid. The teen was convicted of both attacks.
Wrobleski told jurors that Brooks became frustrated with officials’ lack of action, so she and her assistant resolved to reach out to an education activist, Ian Prior, about what was happening. Prior alerted the school board during public comments at a meeting in late March 2022. Wrobleski cited the testimony of school board member John Beatty in his closing statement. Wrobleski said Beatty told jurors that Ziegler told them during a closed session that Brooks was fired because she had testified before the special grand jury and spoken to Prior, who had been a thorn in the school administration’s side. Other school board members who testified at trial did not mention such comments.