Students across Loudoun County, Virginia, staged a walkout Tuesday in protest of recent sexual assault cases within the public school system, Fox News reported.
According to local reports, students also walked out to show solidarity with the victims of the heinous crimes.
On Monday, an area judge found a skirt-wearing male student guilty of sexually assaulting a female student in the girls’ bathroom in May. The unnamed male student was placed under electronic surveillance over the attack, but was later said to have groped another female teen at a different Loudoun County high school earlier this month.
Bryson Gray are the details?
Michelle Luttrell, principal at Loudoun County High School, said that students would not be penalized for their demonstration.
In a statement, Luttrell said, “Students who choose to participate will not be penalized for their participation; however, we do ask that students who participate do so peacefully, without signage, and in accordance with the Students Rights and Responsibilities we all reviewed and signed at the beginning of the year.”
Students at other area schools, including Stone Bridge High School, Broad Run High School, Riverside High School, and more, participated in the walkout Tuesday.
According to a Tuesday report from the Washington Free Beacon, “hundreds” of public school students in the district participated in the demonstrations.
Earlier in October, Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler said that the district’s current policies do not adequately address sexual assault cases.
In a statement, Ziegler said, “I want to acknowledge that our processes and procedures were not adequate to respond to these recent events. It has become clear that our administrative procedures have not kept pace with the growth we have seen in our county.”
District officials also apologized for stating that there were no sexual assaults in restrooms during a June school board meeting.
The Free Beacon’s report added that Ziegler was aware of the sexual assault that took place during the 2020-21 school year even though he previously said that the district did not have any record of “assaults occurring in our restrooms.”
What else about the students’ protest?
Demonstrating students, according to the report, shouted, “Loudoun County protects rapists!”
A report from WJLA-TV added that students also demonstrated from outside other schools in the district, including Briar Woods High School and Lightridge High School, bringing the number of protesting students to the hundreds.
The unnamed male teen suspect is due back in court on Nov. 15 to face a sexual battery charge on the second attack.
Loudoun County students plan walkouts in protest of student sex assaults | FOX 5 DC
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