LCPS Chief of Staff Mark Smith is out following criticism and controversy
The chief of staff for Loudoun County Public Schools in northern Virginia is no longer in that role following high-profile controversies, including sexual assault allegations against a teenager known as the 'boy in a skirt'.
Chief of Staff Mark Smith had also been the district's Title IX Coordinator, responsible for compliance with federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, and had faced harsh criticism over his performance.
Asked about Smith's departure, which was first reported on Wednesday by WJLA-TV, a district spokesperson simply said 'the position is vacant' and declined further comment.
Smith's exit follows last week's sentencing of the 15-year-old boy convicted of two sexual assaults of female classmates at separate schools.
The father of one of the victims was infamously dragged out of a school board meeting where teachers lied about never receiving reports of sex assaults in the girls' restrooms.
Smith had also been the district's Title IX Coordinator, responsible for compliance with federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, and had faced harsh criticism
People gather in Loudoun County in October to protest the school board's handling of a sexual assault that happened in a locked 'gender-fluid' school bathroom in May
One school board member, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WJLA that Smith 'had obligations under Title IX and they weren't met.'
'He was not a Title IX expert, but it was his job,' the school board member said. 'Someone had to pay and it was him.'
Smith could not immediately be reached for comment by DailyMail.com on Wednesday evening.
The local parents' advocacy group Fight for Schools celebrated Smith's departure as much-needed accountability for the handling of the sexual assault cases.
'We have been saying for months that Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX and this report confirms that,' the group's executive director Ian Prior told the Loudoun Times-Mirror.
'While it is a positive development to see that LCPS is taking action, the fact remains that the buck stopped with Superintendent Scott Ziegler and the former leadership of the school board,' he added.
'Ziegler remaining while his subordinates take the fall only further diminishes the trust in LCPS leadership,' said Prior.
Parents' advocacy group Fight for Schools celebrated Smith's departure but also called for the removal of Superintendent Scott Ziegler (above)
After the first rape occurred in a school bathroom at Stone Bridge High School (above) in May 2021 the boy was allowed to attend nearby Broad Run High School while he awaited trial in juvenile court. The second assault occurred in a Broad Run classroom last October
Last week, the teen convicted of the sexual assaults in the district was ordered Wednesday to attend a locked, residential treatment facility until he turns 18, but spared prison time.
He also was ordered to be placed on the sex offender registry at a hearing Wednesday in Loudoun County Juvenile and
