Virginia school district board calls for more accountability after multiple arrests, resignations concerning suspected child abuse 

A chastened school district board in Virginia unanimously passed a resolution Thursday calling for greater accountability and transparency after a series of arrests and resignations over alleged failures to report suspected child abuse.

“I’m in my 13th year as an elected official in this county, and that was the most troubling resolution I’ve ever had to read and/or vote on,” said Ned Gallaway, chair of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, as reported by Gray Media’s 29News.com.

The resolution comes after Albemarle County police arrested three current and former school administrators, citing “failure to comply with Virginia’s mandatory child-abuse reporting law” in an Oct. 7 media release.

On the same day, School Board member Jim Dillenbeck resigned following “a controversial town hall meeting” where other board members accused him of violating privacy rights through some of his comments, according to Charlottesville Media Group’s CVille.

“When an elected body is entrusted with oversight of what you’re elected to do, that’s a serious thing,” Gallaway said when discussing the resolution. “And I think that oversight – both the understanding of it and how it has played out – I think there are clear indications that has broken down.”

‘Serious parental and community concerns’

The resolution acknowledged that the current situation has raised “serious parental and community concerns regarding a reported culture of fear among employees, and significant erosion of public trust” about the district’s internal climate and reporting practices.

Among other measures, the resolution called for stronger protections for employee whistleblowers, independent reviews of workplace culture and a crisis management plan.

Meanwhile, the three defendants – including a Title IX coordinator and former Hollymead Elementary School Principal Joe McCauley – appeared in court Oct. 9.

Two charges against each defendant allege a knowing, intentional failure to report aggravated sexual battery, a Class 1 misdemeanor under state law.

Further arrests and resignations have occurred over the past six months, with Woodbrook Elementary School teacher Nicholas Clark arrested on child pornography charges in March and former Hollymead worker Michael Swiney arrested in June.

Swiney had been arrested on 11 charges of child sexual abuse, but the number has increased to almost two dozen charges involving seven children. These include 16 counts of aggravated sexual battery, according to the local ABC affiliate.

“Swiney’s arrest on June 3 began a series of scandals that has continued to upend the division over the past four months,” the news outlet wrote, adding that the school board had asked then-superintendent Dr. Matthew Haas to resign.

“In July, Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Planning Dr. Patrick McLaughlin was placed on administrative leave following accusations of sexual harassment made against him by Heidi Gilman Bennett, an outgoing officer with Albemarle County Public Schools Family Council.”

The district enrolls approximately 14,000 students across 25 schools.

Even Virginia’s governor, Democrat Abigail Spanberger, and other politicians have condemned the district’s failure to protect schoolchildren as media coverage intensifies.

“If there is some sort of culture of fear and retaliation, that is a failure in and of itself,” Spanberger said, as reported by the local CBS affiliate. “People need to know that they can, they must, and they are legally obligated to raise their hand, report things that might be even just a whiff of worrisome.”

(Image credit: Albemarle County School Board/Screenshot/YouTube, logo added)