He spent 20 years as the spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools and then found himself at the center of a national controversy — and a felony perjury trial — over the school system’s handling of two sexual assaults by the same student. Now, Wayde Byard, who was acquitted last year in his criminal trial, is finally speaking on his own behalf.
“I wanted the record to be set straight,” Byard told WTOP in an exclusive interview about his upcoming book, “The Battle for Loudoun County: Inside the Culture War Between a ‘Woke’ School Board and the Radical Right in America’s Wealthiest Suburb.”
Byard’s perjury case was the sole felony count handed up from an eight-monthslong special grand jury probe commissioned by Attorney General Jason Miyares at the request of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Byard was found not guilty by a Loudoun County jury in June 2023.
“I wanted people to know that a public school system would not cover up a rape or hide student misconduct or not cooperate with law enforcement,” said Byard.
In his book, Byard describes Loudoun County as “the wealthiest, most-educated locality in America. It’s diverse. It’s home to cutting-edge technology. It boasts one of the most-honored school systems in the country.”
He also said it’s home to “bigotry and cultural stupidity on an epic scale.”
“Loudoun is a template for how the Radical Right wants to reshape American politics, using a reasonable façade to push policies that were considered regressive a half-century ago,” he writes.
While the school system’s transgender policy would become the focus of much of the ensuing controversy, Byard said an earlier turning point came in June 2021 when then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler presented “Promise and Progress: Report on Equity 2021” to a work session of the school board. While no members of the media were present, this was the first time an LCPS superintendent highlighted the fact that white students were outnumbered in the school system.
“I think you can tap into people who are nervous about a school division or community going majority minority. There’s a lot of fears there — people think ‘I’ve lost my community,’” Byard opined.
Byard blamed what he calls “social media conspiracy theories” that exploited some honest mistakes made by the school system.
“That’s what people really want to think, is that somehow this big organization with 15,000 people, has this gigantic conspiracy going to poison the minds of the young,” said Byard. “And nothing could be further from the truth.”
The incident
In 2021, Loudoun County became the epicenter of a controversy that played out in the state governor’s race and even on a national level about how the school system handled two sexual assaults done by the same student — the first one in late May of that year in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School.
The attack came at a time when the school system was considering a policy change to allow transgender students to use the restroom of their choice, and the perpetrator was wearing a skirt (or kilt) at the time.
Shortly afterward, the school board approved the policy allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.
On June 22, 2021, the father of the first victim was arrested at a school board meeting.
Byard said local news organizations were willing participants in drawing outsized attention to future school board meetings.
“The news directors would say, ‘OK, Loudoun is the hot spot, so we’ve got to have a crew there,” said Byard. “What made Loudoun special is we had some political performance artists, some of whom came in from Fairfax and Prince William (counties), who wanted to make YouTube videos.”
Byard said mostly outside agitators were adept at getting attention: “They knew the news story would become ‘Parents go crazy at school board meeting, film at 11.’ And here’s a teaser, somebody shouting into a microphone, usually with a couple of bleeps.”
The controversy only grew when the male student was transferred to another high school, Broad Run High School, and sexually assaulted another student inside a classroom in October of 2021.
The boy was found responsible for both assaults, and sentenced to a residential treatment facility until he turned 18. In November 2023, when he turned 18, he was released.
In retrospect, Byard believes the aftermath of the sexual assaults was exacerbated, “because the adults in the room did not get together and communicate,” referring to the school system, the sheriff’s office, the commonwealth’s attorney’s office and juvenile services.
“I think, probably, the boy should have been in an alternative placement, but we didn’t know all the facts. We didn’t know a lot of the facts until two days before things got started, at which time we were at warp speed trying to get the school year started, and things got lost,” said Byard.
A report commissioned by the school system and later ordered released by a judge faulted the school system for not carrying out its own investigation and threat assessment of the student, instead relying on the sheriff’s office. The school board said at the time of the report’s release last September that it has taken “significant actions,” including policy changes since the 2021 assaults.
Indicted
During the 2021 governor election, Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin campaigned on a “parents first” platform — and won. The day he was sworn in, he issued an executive order authorizing an investigation into Loudoun County schools, saying, “School administrators withheld key details and knowingly lied to parents about the assaults.”
Newly elected Attorney General Jason Miyares added, “Loudoun County Public Schools covered up a sexual assault on school grounds for political gain.”
Asked about those statements, which implied premeditation and intent on the part of the school system, Byard said, “I think they’re false.”
“First of all, the student pleaded guilty before the governor was elected. Sentence was imposed before he was inaugurated. The system worked — albeit very imperfectly, the system worked,” he said.
The special grand jury empaneled by Miyares’ office worked for months, seeking to clarify who knew what, and when. Byard testified before the grand jury twice.
Ultimately, in December 2022, Byard was indicted on a felony perjury charge and former superintendent Ziegler was indicted on three misdemeanors. Ziegler, who was fired after the release of the special grand jury report, was convicted last September of a retaliatory firing of a teacher unrelated to the 2021 sexual assaults. However, the conviction was later thrown out and he is set to be retried next year. (Ziegler was acquitted on a second charge, and a third count was dropped.)
Byard recalls the moment in December 2022 when he was told by the school division’s attorney that he and the superintendent had been indicted and Byard was being suspended without pay.
“I was marched out of the building, in a friendly way,” Byard said. “We’d decided that if the building was staked out (by reporters), we didn’t want a perp walk. They took me out to my car. The personnel head was in tears, as she asked for my parking pass. And, I learned what the feeling of being alone was, at that moment.”
Shortly before trial, Byard and his attorney, Jennifer Leffler, were offered a plea bargain. “In my case, they said, we’ll do a misdemeanor of making a false statement, $100 fine, but we’re gonna wait two years to sentence you.”
The pair thought they had a solid defense, so rejected the offer. The case went ahead.
The trial
According to Byard, “My name was barely mentioned during my trial. I felt like a spectator at my own trial — they were trying the school division, through me, as a surrogate.”
When jurors got the case, they only deliberated a short while before informing Circuit Court Judge Douglas Fleming that they had reached a verdict.
“We were confident. I think when they came back in an hour, we felt we’d probably won because if they really had to agonize over the decision, we wouldn’t have gotten a verdict that quickly. I later found out that basically the trial was over after the first day — they did not follow the opening arguments,” made by prosecutors for Attorney General Miyares’ office.
When the court clerk unfolded the paper upon which the jury foreman wrote the verdict, it read “Not guilty.”
“You are free to go, sir,” said Judge Fleming after the verdict was read in court.
With his legal troubles behind him, a meeting was held with the school system’s interim superintendent, chief human resources officer and director of strategic communications, where the group decided Byard would no longer be the voice or face of LCPS.
“It was actually a relief. At that point, I couldn’t see going back out there because I’d be a distraction. If I were there for the opening of school, they’d say, ‘Well, fresh off his perjury trial, here he is,” he laughed.
The group agreed Byard would concentrate on writing projects until his retirement, in December 2023.
Today, after the national scrutiny, the political posturing and the claim that the Loudoun County Public School system was in crisis, what does Byard think is really important to the parents of Loudoun County school students.
“Safety is number one. Two, that my child is successful, that they get a diploma, that they have life skills, that they have a career path,” Byard said. “We did surveys, and 87% of the population is very pleased with the school division.”
At the height of tensions during school board meetings, Byard said the chief of staff asked him to compile how many people participated in school board meetings.
“We had about 40 regulars and 20 part-timers. So, we had 60 people out of a population of 400,000 that were very agitated, very angry, but were not representative of the population as a whole,” said Byard. “It’s a very small minority that’s vocal, and creates this illusion.”
Byard’s book, scheduled for an Oct. 15 release, is available for presale.
Watch the full interview with Byard below:
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