Lawsuits target Virginia school board sex-assault response

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A pair of lawsuits that for years has plagued Virginia’s largest school system with allegations that it ignored students’ accusations of sex assaults are back in front of federal judges. One of the lawsuits includes allegations of horrific abuse suffered by a student at a Fairfax County middle school and was the basis for a 2014 federal investigation. The lawsuits attracted low-level attention when they were filed before the pandemic and became caught up in appeals. Now, both cases are moving forward again in federal court, at a time when schools’ responses to alleged sex assaults are receiving more intense scrutiny. In a statement, Fairfax County Public Schools defended its responses to the assault allegations.