Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) announced Sunday he had pardoned a parent who was arrested during a school board meeting.
Scott Smith was arrested in 2021 after he complained to the Loudoun County School Board about his daughter’s rape. Her perpetrator was a boy wearing a skirt who was allowed to use the girls’ restroom because of the district’s transgender policy.
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“In Virginia, parents matter and my resolve to empower parents is unwavering. A parent’s fundamental right to be involved in their child’s education, upbringing, and care should never be undermined by bureaucracy, school divisions or the state,” Youngkin said in a statement along with his executive order pardoning Smith. “I am pleased to grant Scott Smith this pardon and help him and his family put this injustice behind them once and for all.”
Youngkin launched an investigation into Loudoun County on his first day in office, which led to a grand jury report that would allege then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler attempted a cover-up of the issue. Ziegler has since been terminated. The governor would refer to Smith’s case as a “gross miscarriage of justice”
“When the final report from the grand jury was issued, Mr. Smith did what any father would do, what any parent would do, was stand up for their child, and even worse what then happened was the perpetrator was moved to another school and sexually assaulted another young woman,” Youngkin lamented on Fox News Sunday.
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Smith was charged with two misdemeanors: obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct. The obstruction of justice charge was ultimately dismissed with prejudice on appeal.
As a result of the grand jury report, Smith has called for further terminations, including that of the principals of Stone Bridge and Broad Run high schools, as well as Deputy Superintendent Ashley Ellis and division counsel Robert Falconi.
