VA Gov. Glenn Youngkin Pardons Loudoun County Father Arrested at School Board Meeting for ‘Disorderly Conduct’

Scott Smith, a father in Loudoun County, Virginia, showed up at a school board meeting in August 2021, upset that the school district mishandled his daughter’s sexual assault. She said that a boy wearing a skirt assaulted her in the girls’ restroom at Stone Bridge High School.

The irate father accused board members of covering up the crime. The police arrested him for disorderly conduct, and he was convicted of the charge.

The school expelled the boy but sent him to another school, where he sexually assaulted another girl.

Governor Glenn Youngkin recently announced that he has pardoned Smith of his conviction.

“I spoke with Mr. Smith on Friday, and I had the privilege of telling Mr. Smith that I will pardon him, and we did that on Friday,” Gov. Youngkin said on Fox News. “We righted a wrong. He should’ve never been prosecuted here. This was a dad standing up for his daughter.”

The governor added that no one was doing anything about it.

The U.S Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in April opened an investigation into how Loudoun County Public Schools mishandled two sexual assaults at two schools.

Gov. Youngkin authorized Attorney General Jason Miyares to convene a special grand jury into the incidents. The school district asked a lower court to dismiss the grand jury investigation. The court rejected the request. The school district sought to appeal the ruling and asked the Virginia Supreme Court to file the appeal under seal. This court refused the request.

The grand jury reported (PDF) that there was no coordinated cover-up, but concluded that the school board mishandled the sexual assaults. School board administrators looked out for themselves at the expense of the district as whole, the grand jury contended. The sexual assaults could have and should have been prevented.

Photo credit: By Vahurzpu – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, link