Virginia’s Loudoun County School Board, which was accused of covering up the sexual assault of a high school girl last year, could be voted out of office en masse in November if Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin gets his way.

According to a bill amendment backed by Youngkin, all nine board members would be up for re-election this year, 12 months earlier than previously scheduled, according to ABC7. 

Following that election, five members would be up for re-election two years down the line while the other four would not face the voters again until 2026.

The proposal will need to be approved by Virginia’s legislature to go into effect. 

Youngkin’s amendment follows his day-one order for the commonwealth’s attorney general to investigate potential wrongdoing by board members and the school district regarding the sexual assaults. 

The attacks made national news after Virginia parent Scott Smith was arrested during a June 22 school district meeting as he confronted officials over an attack on his daughter in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn on May 28. Smith claimed at the meeting that his daughter had been accosted by a “boy in a skirt.”

A 15-year-old boy was later charged in that assault as well as an Oct. 6 attack at nearby Broad Run High School. He was later found guilty in both attacks and sentenced to supervised probation in a residential treatment facility until the age of 18.

In the June meeting, Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler denied there were any records of incidents in any school restrooms and reportedly said that “the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist.”

However, emails resurfaced that fall that indicated Ziegler notified other board members of the May 28 attack on the day it happened.

The superintendent later apologized for his comments, saying, “I regret that my comments were misleading and I apologize for the distress that error caused families. I will do better in the future,” according to radio station WTOP.

Many called on the board and Ziegler to resign, but as of mid-October, only one member had stepped down. 

Youngkin, then campaigning for governor, called for an investigation into the public schools in Loudoun County, saying the district “had a duty of care and they failed.”

On Tuesday, Loudoun County school board member Andrew Hoyler came out against Youngkin’s proposal.

“We have legal procedures in place to remove elected officials for a number of reasons,” he said in a statement. “These procedures are done through the judicial system, not the executive and legislative branches, and I do not support any attempt to circumnavigate the processes that are already present.” 

Hoyler — who was one of just two board members up for re-election this year — noted that while his opinions differ from many of his fellow board members, that does “not blind me to the fact that each of them are sitting on the dais because the voters of Loudoun put them there.” 

“My colleagues won a fair election in 2019, allowing them to serve a full four-year term,” he emphasized. 

Democratic Loudoun County Delegate David Ried also blasted the amendment, calling it an “attempt by some Republicans to subvert our democracy and hold it hostage to a right-wing minority.”

“The members of the Loudoun County School Board were elected to serve 4-year terms and they should be allowed to serve the full duration of their terms — that’s why we have scheduled elections,” he said in a statement. “By adding this unnecessary amendment to a simple administrative bill, which was requested by the Loudoun Board of Elections, Governor Youngkin is opening the door for any future majority and governor to undermine local elections and local control.” 

The Virginia legislature will reconvene on April 27 to discuss vetoes of amendments put forward by the governor.