By Shatter the Silence Fairfax County Public Schools
February 1, 2022
Yesterday and late last week, students across Fairfax County Public Schools walked out of class to protest FCPS’s attempts to convince the Supreme Court to enshrine a ‘one free rape’ rule, as well as the school district’s practice of covering up sexual misconduct.
“Silence is violence! Silence is violence!” chanted dozens of students late Friday at Centreville High School as they stormed out of class, holding signs supporting survivors of sexual assault and condemning FCPS’s Title IX challenge to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, on Thursday, students at Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria also walked out in protest.
“Principal[ Jovon] Rogers [of Mount Vernon High School] is weak on sexual assault, and everyone at the school knows it. Students report sexual assaults and harassments, but the school does nothing.” Said a current Mount Vernon student who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing a fear of retaliation.
Retaliation is a serious concern for civil rights activists in FCPS, as the school board has previously thrown students who reported harassment off of sports teams, filed what a judge called a “frivolous” lawsuit to “restrain” speech against parents of disabled students, and even been sued by its former auditor for retaliatory termination after firing its auditor who reported misconduct.
Students also staged a walk-out to protest FCPS’s mishandling reports of sexual abuse and harassment at South County High School in Lorton. Students have planned walkouts at other schools for later this week.
The walk-outs comes also comes in response to FCPS’s Supreme Court challenge that would dramatically reinterpret Title IX, the federal law that protects students and teachers from sexual misconduct in the classroom. FCPS is arguing that a school cannot be held liable if it fails to investigate sexual violence, as long as a student is not subsequently abused. Last year, a federal appeals court twice rejected this argument, saying in an court opinion that FCPS wanted schools to get “one free rape.”
The school board originally snuck its Supreme Court filing in during the week between Christmas and New Year. Volunteers at Shatter the Silence Fairfax County Public, a non-partisan non-profit committed to advocating for human rights and civil rights in FCPS, found the court filing and immediately began drawing public attention.
In response, 17,000 community members signed a petition urging FCPS to drop the appeal, as well as asking the Virginia Attorney General and the United States Department of Justice to Investigate FCPS for an alleged pattern and practice of mishandling allegations of sexual misconduct.
FCPS, which rarely comments on pending litigation, was forced to issue a lengthy written statement responding to the popular outrage caused by this appeal. Its statement, however, is contradicted by what it wrote in their court filings. FCPS’s statement, as well as Shatter the Silence’s response, is available here.
“FCPS has a culture of cover-up when it comes to sexual abuse, trafficking, and harassment.” said a spokesperson for Shatter the Silence FCPS.
“In the past six years, FCPS has entered into four settlements with the federal government for mishandling sexual misconduct. It has three open federal investigations for the same.” explained the spokesperson.
“Two principals were recently criminally charged for failing to report child sex abuse, along with other staff members. Predators from the community have walked onto our schools to sexually assault students, including a convicted sex trafficker at an elementary school. Some survivors and their parents have publicly shared their stories of being sexually assaulted or trafficked and reporting the abuse to FCPS school bureaucrats who did nothing, or worse, blamed the victims. How much more do you need to show that FCPS has a problem?” said Shatter the Silence FCPS.
While FCPS has not (yet) responded to the walk-outs, principal Jovon Rogers at Mount Vernon High School wrote a letter to parents, pledging a “roundtable discussion” to “facilitate conversations around sexual misconduct and harassment.” The full statement is available at this link.
Despite the response, evidence suggests that Rogers is yet another FCPS principal that mishandles sexual misconduct. Every year, school principals must sign sworn certifications to the Virginia Department of Education, reporting every incident of student misconduct to the state. Despite admitting that “200” students walked out to protest sexual misconduct, Rogers (and her predecessors) reported that from 2016-2021, there were zero incidences of sexual misconduct at her school.
While these numbers raise questions, Rogers is far from the only FCPS principal who might be misreporting. In last year’s student survey, a sample of 870 students claimed to have reported sexual abuse or harassment to school officials, yet FCPS reported less than 50 incidences of sexual misconduct to the state of Virginia.
In a lawsuit last year, FCPS was similarly caught lying to the federal government about its treatment of disabled students. From 2009-2015, it told the federal government it did not handcuff or restrain any disabled students. Yet litigation revealed that FCPS handcuffed handicapped children thousands of times throughout that period.
Shatter the Silence FCPS believes that FCPS is incapable of reforming itself, and instead urges state and federal authorities to open up a civil rights probe, as well as to pass stronger laws that protect students’ civil rights in the classroom. The organization encourages anybody who wants to get involved in their movement or has information about possible misconduct in FCPS to visit their website and contact the organization.
“Shatter the Silence FCPS is proud that students are standing up for their rights. “Every child deserves a safe and discriminatory free education. When school bureaucrats and elected school board members fail at this basic task, they need to be held accountable.”
Shatter the Silence Fairfax County Public Schools is a volunteer-run, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded by survivors, parents, and students of Fairfax County Public Schools. We seek to raise awareness, and demand accountability, about human rights and civil rights violations that occur in FCPS. Visit our website, www.shatterthesilenceFCPS.org, or follow us on Instagram or twitter @shatterFCPS, to learn more.