Smith family withdraws suit against Loudoun County Public Schools

A Loudoun County family who filed a $30 million lawsuit against the Loudoun County Public School system in federal court in Alexandria almost year ago has withdrawn its case and will be re-filing it soon.

Scott Smith, of Leesburg, filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school system on Oct. 5, 2023, after his daughter was assaulted by Hunter Heckel in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School on May 28, 2021. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, including sexual harassment, sexual violence, and gender-based discrimination.

In June 2021 at a Loudoun County School Board meeting, Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after a heated debate with another attendee at the meeting. The topic being discussed at the meeting was Policy 8040.

In August 2021, the Loudoun County School Board adopted Policy 8040, which allows transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice despite their sex at birth. The policy also requires school staff to use students’ preferred gender pronouns. The Loudoun County School Board voted 7-2 to adopt the policy.

As of February 2024, the School Board was re-evaluating Policy 8040. The proposed policy would stop existing LCPS schools from modernizing school facilities, restrooms, and lockers to promote the creation of single-user restrooms. This policy proposal also addresses suicide and parental notification.

Since the adoption of Policy 8040 in 2021, eight school board members have been voted out of office, one resigned, and the former Superintendent of Schools was fired.

Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Olsen prosecuted the case after Circuit Court Judge James E. Plowman disqualified Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj who had requested to represent the Commonwealth against Smith and sought jail time for him. Commonwealth Attorneys rarely personally prosecute misdemeanor cases. They are usually prosecuted by Assistant Commonwealth Attorneys given the less serious nature of the crimes.

Smith was convicted on the disorderly conduct charge but then pardoned by Governor Glenn Youngkin in September 2o23. The resisting arrest charge was dropped. The Smith family then filed the federal lawsuit.

Smith's former attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Smith family, William M. Stanley Jr. of the Stanley Law Group PLLC, withdrew as the attorney on the case, Scott Smith said in an interview yesterday.

Smith said Stanley, who is also a Virginia state senator (R-Dist. 7), advised the Smith family that he was going to be withdrawing from the case when it became apparent that the Smith family wanted to pursue going to trial rather than settling with the school system.

"Time constraints as a politician and some health issues with personnel at his legal office prevented him from being able to fully commit to preparing for a trial, which takes and lot of time and resources" Smith said. "The judge allowed the case to be withdrawn without prejudice and said we can re-file when we are ready."

Smith has now hired the Binnall Law Group in Alexandria and says the family plans to re-file the suit "before the holidays." The Binnall Law Group specializes in Title IX litigation. He said he still wishes to go to trial because "there are parts of the case that the public still doesn't know yet and they should."

Smith said his daughter is doing well and "has grown tremendously over the last year." She has graduated from high school and is now employed.

As for Heckel, he was charged with two counts of forcible sodomy and arrested. He was required to wear an ankle monitor and transferred to Broad Run High School where he was later accused of sexual assault against a second female student. He was then remanded to a locked residential treatment facility just short of two years.

He was released before Thanksgiving in 2023 and was removed from probation on his 18th birthday in June. "He is back in society with no viewable record or any sex offender database," Smith said.