School board holds Nov. 26 private meeting concerning altercation

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Possible second meeting to be held Monday, Dec. 2

The Loudoun County School Board held a private meeting Nov. 26 to gain insight into the altercation between School Board member Deana Griffiths (R-Ashburn) and Leesburg resident Heather Gottlieb, after a video shot by Gottlieb surfaced on social media showing her pursuing and videotaping Griffiths at a public meeting and Griffiths responding by taking her purse and using it to block herself from being filmed.

The altercation was quickly dubbed “purse gate” and gained media attention. The video can be seen here.

Larry Roeder, chair of the Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School renaming committee, said he was asked by an attendee who was uncomfortable seeing Gottlieb videotaping people to make an announcement requesting no one videotape. He did, but Gottlieb ignored the request.

The interaction between Griffiths and Gottlieb took center stage among the “Rename our Schools” action plan introduced by the school board, which calls for examining, and possibly renaming, nine public schools in Loudoun County that the majority-Democratic school board says have racist names.

Griffiths is one of two Republicans on the nine-member school board, and does not support renaming any schools, three of which are in the district she represents. At last Tuesday’s meeting, the school board ultimately decided to wait until the Leesburg Police finished its investigation and made its report public before deciding how to handle the matter.

However, there is a notation on the Dec. 2 school board meeting agenda for “discussion and consideration of the performance of a specific public employee.” It is unclear whether the school board has changed its position on waiting for the police to conclude its investigation.

The video and witness statements were reviewed by the Virginia State Police and the case turned back over to the Leesburg Police Department. No charges have been filed against Griffiths.

Renaming controversy

The review of school names and mascots began in June 2020 as part of an action plan to combat what the school board deemed systemic racism as the George Floyd movement gained momentum. Four years later, after contention between the school board and citizens over sexual assaults on school grounds, implementation of LGBTQ policies and critical race theory material introduced into the curriculum, the slate of all new school board members elected in November 2023 moved forward where the old board left off – renaming schools.

The school board had already changed Loudoun County High School’s mascot in June 2020 from the Raiders to the Captains, which cost taxpayers more than $1 million to pay for the change to insignias, signage, athletic and band uniforms and a host of other materials. Alumni started a petition to change the mascot during the George Floyd protests because the Raiders mascot was a reference to John Mosby’s Confederate cavalry unit during the Civil War.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, composed of seven Democrats and two Republicans, have also renamed several County roads and two highways (Rt. 7 and Rt. 50). Three months ago, they renamed the historical County courthouse in downtown Leesburg.

A Confederate statue, known as the “Silent Sentinel”, was removed from courthouse grounds in July 2020 after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to remove it, which was owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and depicted a young Confederate soldier holding a musket. Erected in 1908, it was the county’s oldest monument.

Loudoun County residents have overwhelmingly voiced their objection to the renaming of nine schools at public meetings, in emails to school board members, on social media and in letters to the editor. Despite this, the school board has disregarded the will of the majority and decided to continue pursuing the renaming plan.

It established renaming committees for Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School in Leesburg and Mercer Middle School in Aldie. Public meetings moved forward to discuss changing the names of those schools. It was at a renaming meeting for Frances Hazel Reid on Nov. 18 where Griffiths and Gottlieb clashed.

Who is Heather Gottlieb?

Gottlieb, 42, is the vice chair of operations for the Loudoun County Democratic Committee, elected in 2023. She works as a solutions analyst at Peraton and graduated from Broad Run High School.

She frequently works to elect Democratic candidates, attends school board and other public meetings, and was a member and administrator of the Loudoun Love Warriors, a Facebook group that systematically harassed Republicans and was investigated by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in 2023.

In May 2023, U.S. Representatives Chip Roy (R-Texas Dist. 21) and Bob Good (R-Virginia Dist. 5) called on former school board Chair Ian Serotkin in a letter to condemn and intervene. Several former school board members, Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall, Algonkian District Supervisor Juli Briskman, and former Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj were all members of the Loudoun Love Warriors Facebook group.

“The [Loudoun Love Warriors] group’s conversation included threatening statements like, ‘Lives need to be ruined beyond repair’ and ‘Im soooo ready to show up with guns lol.’ This appears to be a part of an aggressive and orchestrated campaign to infringe upon parents’ First Amendment rights through fear and intimidation — specifically, by scaring them away from ever petitioning their local or State government and advocating on behalf of their children’s well being and education in the public square. We hope you would agree that engaging in this type of behavior is appalling and should not be tolerated,” the lawmakers’ letter said.

No criminal charges were ever filed by the Attorney General’s Office or the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. A detective involved in the Love Warriors investigation said the threshold for a crime to have occurred – a threat or physical act of violence – did not take place in the material he reviewed.

And a team assembled within the Virginia Attorney General’s Office crime unit to investigate the Love Warriors found there was no “imminent danger or threat” carried out by the members of the group so charges were never filed by their organization either, according to a team member.

Many Loudoun County citizens disagree and point to the infamous “Top 100” list of people the Loudoun Love Warriors vowed to harm, which included Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Governor Glenn Youngkin, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Del. David LaRock, School Board member John Beatty, School Board candidate Michael Rivera, Prince William County Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, a Cornerstone Chapel pastor, and former Congressional candidate Hung Cao. All Republicans.

Loudoun County parent Elicia Brand has said in former interviews the group threatened to “curb stomp” her when she advocated for her children at school board meetings.

Many who spoke on the matter agreed that the Attorney General’s and Sheriff’s Office’s refusal to criminally charge members of the Loudoun Love Warriors has caused direct, continued harassment of Republicans. Chapman himself has been a long-time recipient of harassment, along with his Public Information Officer Thomas Julia, and Michael Rivera, a sheriff’s employee who previously ran for the school board.

A current Facebook group disparaging Chapman says: “This site is dedicated to exposing Sheriff Mike Chapman for who and what he really is.” Gottlieb and several of her friends post content and make comments on the page regularly.

Long before Griffiths

Griffiths said Gottlieb submitted a Freedom of Information request for all her school board emails, County work phone records and even personal cell phone records. She also did the same for Republican School Board member Kari LaBell, who represents the Catoctin District.

Griffiths said ever since she came onto the school board that she has been heckled, followed, video recorded and generally harassed by Gottlieb during public meetings. In a June 15, 2024 social media post, Gottlieb wrote that a meeting involving Griffiths should be open to the public.

“Let’s open that [expletive] up and watch the board hand her [expletive] to her.” Clearly, Gottlieb disliked Griffith well before the Nov. 18 meeting.

Long before Griffiths, Gottlieb had a pattern and history of harming Republicans. In an interview she did with WJLA7 Nick Minock in 2023, she admitted to calling people’s employers to get them fired. That video can be seen here.

She and her colleagues were successful in getting Ashburn resident Scott Mineo fired from his job at Secureworks, a computer and network security company, because she did not like his stance on critical race theory being taught in the public school system. One of several emails Gottlieb wrote to Mineo’s employer can been seen here:

In addition to calling his employer, Mineo said on social media that Gottlieb also, “called the FBI, IRS, DHS, and SPLC [Southern Poverty Law Center]. They’ve threatened to burn my home down with my family and me inside. They also had my GoFundMe taken down. My crime? Posting comments on X that they deemed offensive.”

In addition to contacting Mineo’s employer, the Loudoun Love Warriors also targeted Mark Winn of Leesburg after he spoke at a school board meeting in December 2022. Winn said he was contacted by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and told he was being threatened online. He said his employer was contacted, but his employment was not affected.

Gottlieb’s Democratic colleagues questioned bringing her onto the Loudoun County Democratic Committee. In a picture seen below, two LCDC members questioned her ability to lead without being hostile and called her a bully who antagonized other women, was disruptive during meetings, and used profanity.

A leader within the organization last week said the LCDC has received several complaints against Gottlieb, calling for her to be removed from the organization because she has developed a reputation for being abusive to members of the public and the behavior reflects poorly on the LCDC’s image. She pointed members of the public to a link on LCDC’s website where they could file complaints against Gottlieb if they choose to.

Gottlieb attended a Town Hall meeting Sept. 17 for public input regarding the renaming of Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School. Eleven people spoke against renaming. Gottlieb, the sole dissenter, then got up and called everyone in the room racists and white supremacists. See video here.

Former Loudoun Now reporter Alexis Gustin attended the meeting, wrote a story, and later followed up with Gottlieb:

Ms. Gottlieb,
I am reaching out for comment from you about your comments at the Frances Hazel Reid Town Hall Sept. 17.
There were many in the room who were bothered by your words that night and especially you calling the crowd racists. One person in particular, you called out as racist after she talked about doing her own research…Several attendees have said your behavior and heckling of speakers was uncalled for, and uncivil.
What is your perspective on how the evening went?
What prompted you to say what you said?
What are your thoughts on others saying you were uncivil and rude?
As a member of the LCDC leadership, should your comments and behavior have been more civil?
Do you regret anything?
Thanks
Alexis

Gottlieb responded: “I don’t regret standing up for Black voices that were being dismissed” even though there was only one Black attendee and that person did not get up to speak on behalf of the Black community.

Gottlieb has also disparaged Republicans in several letters to the editor since 2020. Here is one example.

“They wanted to know how many people of color were in my organization”

Gottlieb and her friend Kathy Beynette attended the Nov. 18 Frances Hazel Reid renaming committee meeting together. Becky Fleming, president of the Purcellville chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, was invited to the meeting by renaming chair Larry Roeder to explain Frances Hazel Reid’s membership in the organization. Reid’s grandfather was a Confederate soldier and Fleming said she has original historical documentation from Reid and her involvement in the organization.

Fleming said she witnessed the altercation between Griffiths and Gottlieb and was upset by it. She went over to Griffiths to offer support. “That’s when Gottlieb then turned her attention to me,” Fleming said. “She and Beynette were just badgering me with question after question while filming me.”

That video can be seen here.

She said Beynette demanded to know how many “people of color” were in the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Fleming said she responded “at least one” that she knew of at Richmond headquarters, thinking quickly off the top of her head.

Beynette said, “So only one?! Why aren’t there more?!” Fleming recounted.

In order to be a member of the Daughters of the Confederate, one needs to be a direct descendant of a Confederate soldier. Since the ratio of Black soldiers to Caucasian soldiers was quite small during the Civil War and the social pressure in the Black community to avoid membership in Confederate groups immemse, it’s not unusual for only a small number of Black individuals to be members of the organization.

Beynette seemed to not understand that fact.

Though Gottlieb and Beynette both took to social media stating that Gottlieb was “hit in the head” with Griffith’s purse, Fleming said that didn’t keep Gottlieb from continuing to film and turn her attention to Fleming. Fleming said when she and her husband got home, her husband, a former Leesburg Police officer, called the Leesburg Police and filed a complaint about Gottlieb.

“My wife was there as an invited guest,” Mr. Fleming said. He was incensed that his wife was treated with such disrespect by the two women, he said. He said Griffiths was trying to avoid Gottlieb and interrupted a private conversation with a constituent when she was informed by an aide that she was being filmed.

Beynette later removed the post concerning the incident from her Facebook account, and Gottlieb privatized the comments on her’s.

Beynette made news in 2021 when she attended a Trump protest and was “breathed on” by a Trump supporter at the Trump golf course in Lowes Island. She and another attendee brought criminal charges against the man for assault. The case was prosecuted by former Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj, who is close personal friends with both Gottlieb and Beynette. Both recently promoted Biberaj to fill Suhas Subramanyam’s vacant Dist. 32 Virginia Senate seat. Biberaj lost.

The man was forced to pay $3,000 to the NAACP at Beynette’s request as his restitution to her and another person at the Trump event. That story can be read here.

Despite posts on her social media accounts stating that police should be abolished, Gottlieb called law enforcement to report that she had been assaulted shortly after leaving the Nov. 18 meeting.

Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be reached at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news