REPORT: VA school hid sexual assault that hospitalized victim from parents

The school district and school board of Alexandria, VA, withheld information from parents about a violent sexual assault by multiple people in a high school that sent the victim to the hospital, according to a report published by National Review.

The incident at Minnie Howard in October led to a police investigation and the arrest of a 14-year-old suspect in December for “aggravated sexual battery, rape and forcible sodomy,” the Alexandria City Police Department confirmed Friday.

However, the school board, superintendent and mayor apparently decided to keep the full details of the incident from families, according to emails National Review obtained via a Freedom of Information Act.

The decision was made days before a joint school board-city council hearing in October focused on reinstating school resource officers to the city’s school campuses. The decision to remove the campus officers was controversial with parents concerned about their children’s safety.

In that hearing, the incident was only mentioned once in the meeting as “a potential sexual assault that is being investigated” in response to a council member’s question.

The news a violent incident has prompted demands of transparency from parents.

“Any sexual assault that occurs on school property should never be considered ‘business as usual’ or it will be viewed as sweeping it under the rug,” Jennifer Rohrbach, a mother in the district, told National Review.

This is not the first time the sexual assault of a high school student was covered-up in northern Virginia. The district of nearby Loudoun Country came under fire last year for its handling of an attack on a 14-year-old girl in the girls bathroom by a boy.

In 2020, Democrats in the Virginia state legislature voted for a bill that allowed schools to refrain from reporting instances of sexual battery, stalking, violation of a protective order and violent threats on school property. It was signed into law by then-Governor Ralph Northam.

A new bill that reversed the law and required the reporting of serious misdemeanor crimes was introduced in November 2021. It has passed both houses of the Virginia Assembly and is awaiting Governor Glenn Youngkin’s signature.