Ziegler sentencing postponed until Jan. 18

By Audrey Carpenter

Former Loudoun County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Scott Ziegler is set to be sentenced Thursday, Jan. 18,  in Loudoun County Circuit Court for unlawfully firing a special education teacher, but the Blue Ridge Leader has learned that Ziegler’s attorney has filed a motion to set aside that verdict.

“The court will entertain a motion by the defense to set aside the verdict. Depending on the outcome of that motion, the court will then proceed to sentencing on the Class 1 misdemeanor the defendant was convicted of at trial in September,” Theo Stamos, Special Counsel with the Office of the Attorney General, said.

In September 2023, a Loudoun County jury convicted Ziegler of unlawfully firing special education teacher Erin Brooks for cooperating with a special grand jury convened to investigate two sexual assaults that occurred in his school district. He faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for that case.

Ziegler was set to appear in court for a second jury trial for false publication indictment on Feb. 22, but late last month the Attorney General’s Office decided not to move forward with pursuing that case citing the cost to taxpayers and resources involved in a second trial.

The false publication indictment was related to a statement Ziegler made in a school board meeting on June 22, 2021 where he said: “To my knowledge, we do not have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms,” when there had been two sexual assaults of this nature reported to the school system.

Eventually, the School Board fired Ziegler.

The Blue Ridge Leader will be in court and report on the outcome of Ziegler’s fate.