Virginia’s attorney general dropped a case against a former school superintendent who was accused of firing a teacher because she spoke out about a student inappropriately touching her.

The former teacher, Erin Brooks, wanted to put the matter behind her and recently resolved a lawsuit against the former superintendent and Loudoun County Public Schools, the attorney general’s office said in a court filing Thursday.

“Words cannot express how grateful I am to the office of and the Attorney General himself, for the unwavering support and dedication to this case,” Brooks said in a statement released by Attorney General Jason Miyares.

The former superintendent, Scott Ziegler, maintained his stance that the case was politically motivated. Ziegler also said in a statement that “new evidence would have demonstrated that I acted in the best interest of Loudoun County’s most vulnerable students.”

The attorney general’s office was pursuing a conviction against Ziegler for the second time. He was convicted in 2023 on a misdemeanor count of violating Virginia’s conflict of interest laws for retaliating against Brooks.

A judge ruled last year that faulty jury instructions rendered the conviction illegitimate, even though there was “ample evidence” to support a jury’s conclusion of retaliation. A new trial was supposed to start next month.

Brooks had worked as a special education teacher in Loudoun County, which is outside of Washington. She spoke to a special grand jury that was investigating the school system for its handling of sexual assaults.

Brooks told the grand jury and school system critics about her difficulties dealing with a special needs student in elementary school who had been touching her inappropriately.

Prosecutors said Ziegler’s efforts to ensure Brooks’ teaching contract was not renewed amounted to retaliation for her speaking out on a matter of public interest.

Ziegler argued at trial that the teacher’s dismissal was unrelated to her speaking out. His lawyers also argued that the prosecution was politically motivated.

Miyares, a Republican, and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin had criticized Loudoun school system administrators during their successful 2021 campaigns for office.

They claimed that school leadership ignored parent concerns about the handling of transgender students, as well as the school system’s handling of a student who sexually assaulted classmates at two different high schools that year.

The case received outsized attention because the boy who was convicted in both attacks wore a skirt in one of them, assaulting a girl in the women’s bathroom. It played into a national debate over how schools should treat transgender students and whether they should be allowed to use restrooms different to their biological sex.

Miyares had convened the special grand jury at Youngkin’s request in January 2022. A scathing report that December accused the school system of mishandling the high school assaults, the superintendent of lying to the public, and authorities of ignoring multiple warning signs.

In his statement Thursday, Ziegler said prosecutors in his case disregarded facts and wasted taxpayer money.

“At its core, this effort was designed to sway voters in Northern Virginia, prioritizing political gain over truth and justice,” he said.

In his news release, Miyares said he would “protect the rights of teachers and parents without hesitation.”

“Sometimes it takes the courage of one person to stand firm to create change,” Miyares said. “Today, the entire national narrative has changed thanks to Erin’s resilience. Erin’s demand to be respected was upheld by a jury of her own peers.”

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BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – The United Campus Workers of Virginia (UCWVA) is set to gather at the Belitower at Capital Square in Richmond for a Lobby Day and Rally Friday afternoon. It’s aimed at restoring bargaining rights and advocating for a more equitable future for Virginia universities.

United Campus Workers of Virginia, a member-led union, is dedicated to advocating for the rights and well-being of higher education workers. The union represents workers from William & Mary, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

“It’s not just faculty, its not just students; It’s sort of everybody and recognizing that we have shared goals. Things like making sure people have appropriate levels of leave. Making sure we have affordable housing for people. Making sure that we have childcare for individuals who have kids. So, our union is based on trying to advance whose goals,” said UCWVA Virginia Tech Chapter Chair and VT professor Nick Ruktanonchai.

The union’s Lobby Day and Rally in Richmond provides a platform for higher education workers to engage with state legislators about challenges facing Virginia’s university sector and discuss potential solutions. Ruktanonchai, who attended his first Lobby Day last year, expressed the experience of uniting with colleagues from different campuses.

“I never felt that connected to the democratic process, to the actual creation of legislation before that moment. It was just really empowering; I think for me and my colleagues in UCWVA. We all felt that we were able to come together, decide what our priorities were as a unit and then present those priorities,” said Ruktanonchai.

A key focus this year is reinstating collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. These rights were stripped away by the Virginia Supreme Court in 1977 and have been banned by state law since 1993.

“The most important thing about collective bargaining is it gives us a seat at the table. Administrations have increasingly dictated working conditions for staff across campuses. They’ve done things like try to push specific research strategies, research aims. They’ve tried to dictate how we teach and what we teach. It also infringes on free speech. Right now, a lot of those decisions are made by the Board of Visitors, who aren’t elected. Faculty, staff and students don’t have nearly as much of a say as they should in that process,” said Ruktanonchai.

If passed, the collective bargaining bill will give workers a voice to negotiate fair wages, timely pay, and better workplace conditions.

UCWVA invites all public sector workers, higher education advocates, and supporters of workers’ rights to join the rally at 2 p.m. and help amplify the call for transformative change.

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