New Loudoun County Superintendent talks transparency, education and transgender policies

Dr. Spence told WUSA9 he arrived in Loudoun County from Virginia Beach on Friday.

"Our furniture isn't there yet, so it's actually just my son and I on an air mattress," he said Tuesday afternoon.

He says he's ready to get to work.

"The first thing I'm going to do is visit schools. So, my intention is to spend time in schools early and often. You can't know as a superintendent what's happening in your schools unless you're in your schools," said Dr. Spence.

"My goals are to come in here and build relationships with this community, build relationships with our staff, lift up our students as the core of our work. We want to make sure our teachers and faculty feel valued and heard as well," said Dr. Spence.

>Watch Spence's full remarks below:

He has a big job ahead of him. He's replacing Dr. Scott Ziegler who was fired in a unanimous vote by the school board in December of 2022. That decision was made following a grand jury investigation criticizing the way the school system responded to two sexual assaults on school grounds in 2021.

Ziegler and LCPS spokesperson Wayde Byard were indicted in 2022 following a months-long investigation into the district's response after two girls were sexually assaulted by the same 14-year-old student at two different Loudoun County schools.

The former superintendent, Ziegler, is accused of lying to an unnamed publication about sexual assaults in school bathrooms and retaliating against a teacher. 

In January, a judge refused to throw out the case against Ziegler after his lawyer argued that the attorney general's office had no legal authority under state law to prosecute the case. 

Byard, dubbed “the face of LCPS” by his attorney, was indicted after he testified last year that he was unaware of a sexual assault allegation at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021 until months after the second incident at a different school by the same perpetrator.

Dr. Spence said Tuesday, “I don't have any intention on looking in the rearview mirror on that one."

He says he's looking forward to ensuring a good education to LCPS students.

"We don't have to be great for 83,000 students. We have to be great for one student 83,000 times," he said.

Dr. Spence says he also hopes to restore trust in the school system.

"When it comes to transparency, it's important that if we're going to talk about for example, that we're not going to comment on a matter because of an ongoing investigation. that we're just very clear on why we're not commenting," said Dr. Spence.

He brings with him nearly three decades of experience in public education. He had served as the Virginia Beach Public Schools superintendent since 2014, where he oversaw 86 schools and more than 65,000 students. 

The 16-page policy focuses on the treatment of transgender students in Virginia schools.

"So we’re going to work with our school board. It’s going to start with a conversation with our school board and with our student services committee and we’re gonna make sure that we’ve done a full legal analysis of those policies." said Dr. Spence when asked by the media about his stance on the policies.

"We need to analyze the policies in there, and see where they are compliant with state and federal law and if they’re compliant with state and federal law, we will implement them. If there are any issues with that we need to work with our school board through those issues to figure out how do we make the spirit of what may be in the policies without violating state or federal law," said Dr. Spence.

He told WUSA9 he plans to hold listening sessions in the fall.