The new superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools said that he is prepared to lead the Virginia school district as it continues to deal with the fallout of its handling of two sexual assault cases two years ago.
Aaron Spence met with reporters on Tuesday to answer questions about his new role, as former school leader Scott Ziegler heads to a courtroom this fall.
“What I want people to know is that I’m really excited to start as the superintendent on Sept. 1,” Spence said.
While he touted his vision for change in the school district, Spence dodged questions about the district’s handling of sexual assaults.
“I wasn’t involved in any of those issues, although I’m confident that we’ll have to tackle some of that as we move forward,” he said. “I trust our legal system, and I’m going to allow that to play out.”
The school system was heavily criticized for its handling of two in-school sexual assaults by the same student at two different schools in 2021. A special grand jury investigated the school system, and Ziegler was indicted on charges of one count of misdemeanor false publication, one count of misdemeanor prohibited conduct and one count of misdemeanor penalizing an employee for a court appearance. School spokesman Wayde Byard was also indicted on one count of felony perjury; he was acquitted following a trial in June.
Ziegler, who was ultimately fired over how the school system handled the sexual assaults, is set to go on trial this fall.
“As we celebrate our successes, we must also acknowledge that there is always room for improvement,” Spence said.
Spence comes to Loudoun County from Virginia Beach’s school system, where he had worked as superintendent since 2014.
While in Virginia Beach, some of his accomplishments included ensuring all schools remained fully accredited, implementing full-day kindergarten and leading the school system at a time it reported its highest graduation rates on record.
His goal now is to boost teacher morale and build strong relationships with staff, parents, students and the Loudoun County community.
“We’re all dealing with challenging issues — public education is a challenging enterprise,” he said.
Spence said he believes that teachers “want to be seen as true professionals in the classroom” and “know that they’re part of the solution to the challenges in their schools.” He added he’s “never known a place where a teacher or a parent couldn’t have a conversation about how their child is doing and what their child’s learning.”
Spence described learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as an “ongoing challenge,” saying that he and his team plan to dig into relevant data and identify gaps to address.
He said it’s “still early for him” to tell whether his strategies to tackle learning loss in Virginia Beach will work in Loudoun County. However, he mentioned a “robust” summer learning program and a focus on small group instruction for students who are particularly behind as some of his goals.
As for the Commonwealth’s new transgender student policy, Spence said he will work with school board members to analyze and make sure the school district complies with state and federal law.
The new guidance says students’ participation in certain school programming and use of school facilities, such as bathrooms or locker rooms, should be based on their sex assigned at birth. The policies also say that students who are minors must be referred to by the names and pronouns in their official records, unless a parent approves the use of something else, and that school systems may not encourage teachers to conceal information about students’ gender from their parents.
WTOP’s Kate Corliss contributed to this report.
