At DOJ roundtable, Youngkin, McMahon and Patel put Northern Virginia at center of parents'-rights fight

A transcript in a Justice Department report released this week shows Virginia figuring heavily in a June roundtable on federal actions toward parents. Speakers mentioned Loudoun and Fairfax counties, a Northern Virginia federal funding restriction and the 2021 governor's race.

The roundtable was titled "Exposing Weaponization Against Parents in Schools" and was held June 11, 2026, at the Justice Department. Its transcript is Appendix A of the department's "2026 Report to Expose the Weaponization of Government Against Parents in Schools," dated Oct. 5. The participants were then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, FBI Director Kash Patel, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, White House aide Vince Haley, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Parents and advocates, including two from Loudoun County, also spoke.

Youngkin said events in 2021 "in Virginia, but in particularly in Northern Virginia, and even more particularly in Loudoun County, made Virginia Ground Zero for parent's rights." He criticized the state's pandemic-era school closures and masking. He also said the federal government at the time had worked "against the interest of parents."

Looking back on his term, Youngkin said, "I watched an administration fight against me. And for one beautiful year, I had an administration that worked with me." He named former Attorney General Jason Miyares as part of that effort. Youngkin urged governors who have not signed up for the Federal School Choice Act to do so. He also said the intimidation of parents "suppresses the willingness of American citizens to run for school boards," adding, "there is no more important job in America than our school boards."

McMahon described Education Department enforcement involving Virginia districts. "We are actively investigating school districts, including Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia for reportedly providing secret abortion services to minors," she said, according to the transcript. She also said the department "designated Loudoun and four other Northern Virginia districts as high-risk entities for blatant and ongoing violations of Title IX and placed them on reimbursement status for all Department funds, over $50 million dollars in total." She explained that the status requires districts to spend their own money first and then seek federal reimbursement. The transcript does not name the other four districts or give the status of the Fairfax inquiry.

Blanche said the Justice Department had "moved to intervene to defend the rights of students" in a lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board. In that case, parents allege their sons were suspended after objecting to sharing a locker room with a transgender student.

Patel said the FBI and Youngkin had "teamed up and formed the first Homeland Security Task force right there in the State of Virginia," focused on people who prey on children online. "The FBI has absolutely no business in interfering with" parents' decisions about what they say at school board meetings, he said.

Jordan said the speed of the 2021 federal response was tied to that year's Virginia governor's race. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland issued his memo five days after the National School Boards Association's letter. "Why were they moving so fast, because they didn't want this guy to be governor of Virginia," Jordan said, referring to Youngkin. Haley said he attended a Loudoun County event with Youngkin during the 2021 campaign.

Two Loudoun residents told their own stories. Scott Smith, who was arrested at a June 22, 2021 Loudoun County School Board meeting weeks after his daughter was sexually assaulted at school, said he was later pardoned by Youngkin. He said attendance at board meetings fell from "3-400 people, to just a handful" after the Garland memo was issued.

Ian Prior, now senior counsel at America First Legal and a former deputy director of public affairs at the Justice Department, described his Fight for Schools effort to recall Loudoun School Board members, which he said gathered 25,000 signatures. He said his family endured a yearlong online defamation campaign. He described hate mail sent to his home and a box of coal delivered to his door, which he said his daughters opened on Christmas Eve.

The report's own findings concern how the Garland memo was produced. It concludes that the memo resulted from White House pressure and was issued over objections from DOJ attorneys. Garland's memo has since been rescinded. The roundtable remarks are the speakers' own accounts, and the report does not include responses from the school systems or former officials they criticized.

To Contact Fairfax School Board Members:
All Members - FairfaxCountySchoolBoard@fcps.edu,
Tom Dannan - tfdannan@fcps.edu, 
Robyn Lady - ralady1@fcps.edu,
Marcia St. John-Cunning -  mstjohncunni@fcps.edu,
Melanie Meren - HunterMillStaff@fcps.edu,
Ricardy Anderson - randerson@fcps.edu,
Mateo Dunne - mdunne@fcps.edu,
Karl Frisch - kfrisch@fcps.edu,
Sandy Anderson - sanderson@fcps.edu,
Seema Dixit - sdixit@fcps.edu,
Kyle McDaniel - kmcdaniel@fcps.edu,
Ryan McElveen - rlmcelveen@fcps.edu,
Ilryong Moon - imoon@fcps.edu,

Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia. Its county seat is Fairfax, an independent city.

Email the Loudoun County School Board:
April Chandler, april.chandler@lcps.org,
Anne Donohue, anne.donohue@lcps.org,
Deana Griffiths, deana.griffiths@lcps.org,
Ross Svenson, ross.stevenson@lcps.org,
Kari LaBell, kari.labell@lcps.org,
Jon Pepper, jonathon.pepper@lcps.org,
Lauren Shernoff, lauren.shernoff@lcps.org,
Sumera Rashid, sumera.rashid@lcps.org,
Amy Riccardi, amy.riccardi@lcps.org,

Loudoun County is a county in Northern Virginia. Its county seat is Leesburg.