Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman Wayde Byard, who has been on administrative leave since December 12, has been acquitted of lying to a special grand jury that investigated how the school system handled two sexual assaults by the same student at different schools.
“I’m not really happy. I’m relieved,” Byard told NBC4 after the verdict.
Prosecutors said Byard lied about when he learned the of the first sexual assault at Stone Bridge High School in 2021, but the jury rejected that claim and found him not guilty, returning is verdict in under two hours.
The sexual assaults caused prompted intense debates in Loudoun, and Attorney General Jason Miyares appointed a special grand jury to investigate. That grand jury returned a scathing report that faulted the school system for “a stunning lack of openness.” While the report indicated no evidence of a coverup, it said that administrators missed multiple chances to prevent the second assault.
The Loudoun County School Board in February voted not to release the internal report on how the situation was handled.
The teen responsible for the sexual assaults, which took place in a restroom at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021 and in an empty classroom at Broad Run High School in October 2021, remains on supervised probation in a locked juvenile treatment facility until his 18th birthday. A judge made that ruling in the then-15-year-old’s case in 2022, but reversed her decision to register him as a sex offender.
The special grand jury indicted Byard and then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler, who was fired by the school board. Ziegler’s trial is slated for later this year.
Byard, who said he’s a workaholic, said he was initially “lost for a little while” after he was removed from his post, but told NBC4 that after meditating, praying, walking, and exercising more that he came to an epiphany that “whatever happens is going to happen.”
Byard doesn’t know whether he will return to his longtime position.
“It might be hard to be the face of Loudoun County again because people would automatically associate me with something else,” he said.
“I love this community. There are a lot of good people here. I think a lot of people who have spoken loudly have maybe gotten a little too much play and inflamed some situations that really weren’t that inflammatory with really biased rhetoric,” he said.
“I would hope that people take the time to calm down,” he said, adding that people need to respect different viewpoints.
“Don’t put any quarters in the outrage machine. Think before you speak. Don’t react emotionally. Just try to weigh the issues one at a time on their own merits,” Byard said.
He said what he learned from his experience is to not plan as far in advance.
Feature image courtesy NBC4
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