Woke Virginia school district kept pedophile counselor a year AFTER they were notified of his arrest
A Virginia school district that has made headlines for woke policies and clashes over teaching critical race theory waited a year to fire a counselor after they found out he’d been arrested for soliciting an underage prostitute.
Darren Lamar Thornton, 50, remained employed by Glasgow Middle School in Lincolnia, Virginia, even after he’d been convicted of a sex crime and a year after they’d been notified of his arrest, according to WUSA9.
Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle C. Reid confirmed he’d been terminated and FCPS was petitioning the state to revoke Thornton’s license.
He’d previously served as a counselor and boys’ varsity basketball coach in a different county from 2006 to 2020.
Thornton was arrested for offering a minor money for sex in November of 2020 in Chesterfield County.
A Virginia school district that has made headlines for woke policies and clashes over teaching critical race theory waited a year to fire a counselor after they found out he’d been arrested for soliciting an underage prostitute
Darren Lamar Thornton, 50, remained employed by Glasgow Middle School even after he’d been convicted of a sex crime and a year after they’d been notified of his arrest
Thornton previously served as a counselor and boys’ varsity basketball coach in a different county from 2006 to 2020
Superintendent Michelle C. Reid confirmed he’d been terminated and the county was petitioning the state to revoke Thornton’s license. Thornton was arrested for offering a minor money for sex in November of 2020 in Chesterfield County
He was trapped in a sting via an online chat with an undercover officer who said she was 17 who Thornton agreed to meet with. He was arrested when he showed up to her apartment, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Thornton was convicted and sentenced in March 2022 to five years but had his sentence suspended for good behavior.
Police said the school district was notified when he was arrested both in November 2020 and again in June 2022 after his arrest in another sting for solicitation of prostitution and eventually had to register as a sex offender.
Reid, in a letter to parents on Thursday, claimed they took ‘immediate steps’ to fire Thornton, but records show he remained employed for over a year after his initial arrest.
A spokesperson for the police in Chesterfield, where Thornton was arrested, said their records show they informed Fairfax County Public Schools of Thornton’s arrest the next day and again when he was arrested in June.
Police said the school district were notified when he was arrested both in November and again this June after his arrest in another sting for solicitation of prostitution and eventually had to register as a sex offender
Reid, in a letter to parents on Thursday, claimed they took ‘immediate steps’ to fire Thornton, but records show he remained employed for over a year after his initial arrest
Do Better FCPS, an advocacy group, is deeply unsatisfied, according to member Sue Zoldak
She promised ‘I will take whatever further corrective actions are required to prevent this from happening again’.
But Do Better FCPS, an advocacy group, is deeply unsatisfied, according to member Sue Zoldak.
She said: ‘It is astounding and once again disappointing that FCPS had demonstrated that the front office, as well as school-level leadership, do not have a solid procedure for vetting staff and faculty’.
Zoldak also accused Reid of spending the past few days ‘scrubbing’ all mentions of Thornton from the school’s website and socials.
They are calling for the school board voluntarily release all internal communications regarding this matter.
Fairfax County Schools have been at the peak of some of the nation’s culture wars over education.
In June, the school board was debating making ‘deadnaming’ – the act of referring to a trans person with the name they used before they transitioned – a suspendible offense for students.
In February, Judge Claude Hilton ruled on Friday that Fairfax County Public Schools’ admission policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria left Asian American students ‘disproportionately deprived of a level playing field.’
And last September, a school board member claimed a moment of silence to mark the anniversary of the terror attacks would cause harm to minorities who faced persecution as a result of the terror attack.
