Fairfax schools’ external investigations are not independent
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for IW Features, The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in National Review, Fox News Digital, The Daily Signal and Townhall. Originally appeared on The Washington Times.
Fairfax County Public Schools has spent more than $12 million in legal fees so far this academic year.
As part of this jaw-dropping bill, the district has paid attorneys up to $1,850 per hour to “independently investigate” multiple scandals plaguing it.
This year, for example, 13 brave girls at Fairfax High School stepped forward to alert school administrators that Israel Flores Ortiz — an adult illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was enrolled as a junior at the school — sexually assaulted them in the hallways during school hours.
In April, Mr. Ortiz was sentenced to 360 days in jail for multiple counts of assault and battery. After his arrest, Fairfax County Public Schools leaders hired law firm McGuireWoods to conduct a comprehensive review of this matter.
In a statement Monday that came as no surprise, Superintendent Michelle Reid, who earns $445,353 this year, announced, “The external investigation confirmed that our administration acted promptly and appropriately to stop this behavior.”
Of course it did.
Indeed, Fairfax High School’s serial groping case is not the first time a Fairfax-subsidized “independent” investigator has found no wrongdoing by school or district administrators.
In fact, a finding against the very people paying the bills would be the more surprising outcome.
It is like a candy company funding a study on the relationship between sugar consumption and Type 2 diabetes. The public is assured that the process is objective, the experts are independent and the conclusions are evidence-based. Then the study finds little cause for concern. Nothing to see here.
This pattern extends well beyond Fairfax High School. When school officials delayed notifying students at Thomas Jefferson High School of their National Merit Scholarship “Commended” status in 2023, Fairfax County Public Schools hired a law firm to investigate.
When Hayfield High School faced allegations of football recruiting in 2024, district leaders brought in outside counsel. When a teacher raised concerns regarding a student abortion scandal at Centreville High School, the district once more turned to attorneys.
The most serious problem is that these firms are often presented as neutral fact-finders when they are anything but. At the same time King & Spalding was conducting an “independent” investigation for Fairfax County Public Schools, the firm was also representing the district in a related whistleblower lawsuit — a clear conflict of interest that raises serious questions about the credibility and impartiality of its findings.
Monique Miles, the whistleblower’s attorney, said, “King & Spalding can’t be both neutral fact-finder and defense. There is an inherent conflict of interest in King & Spalding representing FCPS as counsel in both matters.”
Not surprisingly, all these “external” investigations concluded that Fairfax leaders acted appropriately. Yet the public record suggests a much more complicated reality.
In the Fairfax High School case, for example, records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that school administrators failed to make Title IX referrals after multiple students reported being sexually assaulted in a school hallway.
At the end of the day, Fairfax County residents deserve greater transparency and accountability from their school system. Instead of spending taxpayer dollars on expensive investigations that appear designed to validate predetermined conclusions, district leaders should focus on addressing misconduct and restoring public trust.
