LINCOLNIA, Va. — Parents continue to demand answers and the Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent has ordered an independent investigation following the arrest of former counselor Darren Thornton. Thornton was arrested for soliciting sex from a minor in November 2020 and ultimately convicted of the crime in March 2022.
All involved seem to agree a school employee with a criminal record should never have been working with kids and the system to prevent needs changes.
"I know that we have to rebuild trust and that doesn't happen overnight," Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid, Ed.D. told a crowd of more than two dozen parents Thursday evening.
RELATED: Virginia State Police arrest former Fairfax County counselor for failure to register as sex offender
In an attempt to begin rebuilding trust, Reid and Fairfax County Public Schools opened up Glasgow Middle School to take parents' questions face-to-face.
Earlier this month, FCPS fired former Glasgow Middle School counselor Darren Thornton after the district learned he was convicted of soliciting sex from a minor.
But, the district admits, he should have been fired when he was first charged with the crime nearly two years ago in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
Chesterfield County police says it tried to notify Fairfax County but their emails bounced back and they apparently never followed up.
RELATED: VA Police chief details officers' stalled efforts to alert Fairfax schools about convicted employee
Thornton was arrested again before he was fired for soliciting prostitution, and Thursday arrested a third time by state police on multiple charges for failing to register as a sex offender.
"We are pleased that the Virginia State Police are working this case and look forward to partnering with them to strengthen our safety protocols going forward," Reid said at Thursday's meeting.
Parents say those protocols are broken.
"You don't expect to send your kids to school and find out that they've had contact with the person with a conviction and arrests or proclivity like this," said Staci Ali-Ibrahim, a parent at the school.
"I'm angry," said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay in an interview with WUSA9.
He says the problem is a lack of any uniform system across the Commonwealth for tracking the criminal history of school employees.
"I don't want to be at the whim of this sophistication level or the tenacity of another county, I want to be able to proactively, you know, look up information about folks so that we can see that real time," said McKay.
"One of my big concerns now is are there other folks who are working within the school system who have also slipped through the cracks, as this person apparently did?" asked Ali-Ibrahim. "And what's going to be done to see and check?"
Superintendent Reid told the parents she is confident no one else has slipped through the cracks in the district.
She also told them she expects the results of an independent investigation into how this happened in about two weeks. Then she and the board will begin work on changes to close those 'cracks' for current employees.
The district says Thornton, the counselor, had a clean background check when he was hired and was arrested later.
RELATED: Investigation launched by Fairfax Schools into why counselor who committed sex crime wasn't fired
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