On Tuesday, the Loudoun County School Board voted 3-6 against a motion to publicly release an independent report commissioned as a result of an investigation into two incidents of sexual assault in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.

The independent report was commissioned by LCPS following the two incidents, which occurred at Stone Bridge High School in May of 2021 and Broad Run High School in October of 2021. Both incidents were perpetrated by the same student, who was transferred to BRHS after the first offense. The student was found responsible in the first incident and pleaded no contest in the second.

School board members John Beatty, Tiffany Polifko and Denise Corbo voted in favor of making the report public, while Harris Mahedavi, Jeff Morse, Erika Ogedegbe, Atoosa Reaser, Ian Serotkin and Brenda Sheridan voted against. The motion was made after the school board voted against waiving any applicable privileges on the report.

“It’s incredibly unfortunate. I think we’re in this problem where there’s no trust with the board and the public, and I think releasing the report would have been the first step in trying to rebuild some kind of trust,” Beatty told DCist/WAMU.

Those who voted against releasing the report, also known as the Blankingship & Keith report, to the public stated that it was commissioned ahead of potential litigation involving both the school district and the school board. As a result, they say the report contains privileged communications between attorney and client. They also argued that the report includes personally identifiable information on students, information which is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“Under the best of circumstances, waiving attorney-client privilege is fraught with pitfalls, which is why it is done exceedingly rarely. Being open and transparent is important, but so is the right of our students and staff to be able to communicate with legal counsel without it being made public – that is such an important principle that it’s one of the cornerstones of the American legal system,” said school board chair Ian Serotkin in a statement.

Beatty, who made the first motion to publicly release the report, says its worth it to reveal that information.

“There’s definitely confidential information and I think we can redact as much of that as possible and still kind of show what the staff response was,” said Beatty. “Clients need to be able to trust their lawyers, but I think given the nature of the situation, you’re allowed to waive that. This warrants waiving that kind of privilege.”

Although the independent report was completed in January of 2022, the school board withheld its public release. According to a release from LCPS, the school board hired a law firm to review the report and advise the board on the potential release of the independent report.

“While the School Board has voted not to release the Blankingship & Keith Report, LCPS will remain focused on continuing to make improvements wherever we can and working toward our goal of empowering each student to maximize their potential and make meaningful contributions to the world,” said acting superintendent Daniel Smith.

Previously, a judge ordered the release of a separate report from a special grand jury, which investigated the institutional failures surrounding the incident. Both members of the board and the general public were outraged after the grand jury report found that the second assault “could have, and should have, been prevented,” among other issues.

In December of 2022, the school board voted unanimously to fire LCPS superintendent Scott Ziegler following the public release of the grand jury report. According to the report, Ziegler failed to keep the public and school board officials informed about the district’s response to the sexual assaults. The report also concludes that Ziegler lied to the public during a school board meeting in June of 2021 in which he testified – just weeks after the first assault – when he stated that no sexual assaults had occurred in school bathrooms.

Both Ziegler and public information officer Wayde Byard have since been indicted for their handling of the sexual assaults. Following the initial reports of the sexual assaults, Gov. Glen Youngkin lambasted the school board and called for an investigation in an executive order issued on his first day of office. This week, WTOP reported that the attorney for Byard is seeking a change of venue, claiming that Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares have tainted the jury pool.