When Politics Run the School

News Alert! The congressional midterm election is this year.

(Oh! That’s what all those ads I must watch before Instagram opens are all about!)

More to come about those, but right now we need to look at why the 34 municipal school board elections in Virginia should be important to you.

*A (Satirical) Editorial Note: The following is not meant to infer, imply or impress that anyone running for school board in your hometown would ever ignore, evade or coverup and sort of sexual assault on students because knowledge of it could be damaging to the promoters of the “trans” agenda … allegedly.*

We, among scarcely anyone else, have been telling you about the case of Michael Swiney of Buckingham County. The 37-year-old former elementary school staffer that is facing 20 counts of sexual misconduct involving nine different female students. Did we mention that this was at an elementary school? Yes, in Albemarle County just outside of Charlottesville.

That is where 16^th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins recently released Swiney on $50,000 bond stating that he posed no threat to the community while ordering him to have 24-7 supervision. (Just in case she was wrong we presume.)

Given their proximity to Charlottesville, it wouldn’t surprise you that the political background of the board is up until recently been entirely progressive Democrats. Some have “moved up” the political ladder like Del. Katrina Callsen who now represents the 54^th District in the House of Delegates.

That is until Jim Dillenbeck came along. A businessman who also had been a teacher, he had the backing of conservatives in the area because he wanted to bring accountability and transparency to the division while helping students achieve better educational outcomes.

Shortly after Dillenbeck’s term began in January of 2026, then-school division Superintendent Matthew Haas was told by the police chief that they were investigating Swiney. Hass withheld that information until June 10 when he finally told board chair Dr. Kate Acuff and then the parents at the elementary school in question, Hollymead.

Hass told parents that he was asked by the police in January to not report the investigation. The police flatly deny that he was asked to do that. “At no point in the investigation did [Albemarle County Police Department] instruct [Albemarle County Public Schools] that they could not notify internal stakeholders,” police spokesperson Logan Bogert told reporters from the website Cville Right Now.

Now the coverup begins to take shape. Haas has resigned, as has former Hollymead principal Joe McCauley.  

The recent arrests of McCauley, deputy chief human resources officer Jhonce Downs, and Title IX coordinator Erin Stone start to paint a picture of the extent of the coverup. They all have been charged with failure to report child abuse, a misdemeanor yes, but it shows that someone knew something was going on.

Nine elementary school girls, 20 instances, and no one did anything? If this was a Catholic archdiocese, Virginia’s newsrooms couldn’t find room for all the stories they would be writing about this.

So why?

Is it because Swiney had been assigned to the position of “social and emotional learning coach” which put him into conversations about transgender issues with the elementary school students that came to his office?

Is that reason to engage in a coverup that currently led to three staffers being arrested?

Phil Reise, one of the parents that wants answers, says that the cover up may still be continuing. “The School Board continues to insist the investigation is independent. However, the engagement letter revealed that VACORP, the School Board’s insurer, engaged the law firm of Harman, Claytor, Corrigan & Wellman, and is paying the firm to investigate ‘potential claims regarding the alleged actions of staff member Michael Swiney.” He adds that the same firm would be the one to “defend against any lawsuit from victims’ families and pay any settlement.”

Last week, the County Board of Supervisors (chaired by a former school board member) offered to partially pay for an outside investigation into what may have occurred, who knew what, and why it was kept from parents.

Presumption of innocence demands that the allegations against Swiney are just that now. However, the arrests of the school officials that followed are starting to paint a picture;  one that all the people running for all those school board seats in those 34 municipalities need to look long and hard at and ask themselves:

“If it means derailing my party’s stated agenda, would I have the courage to speak up?”

None of Albemarle County’s Democrats seem to have been able to answer “Yes.” It took the election of a conservative to open the blinds, and he paid for it politically.

Last week, Dillenbeck resigned his position in the face of a vote to be removed by the other board members. His transgression? Telling his constituents what is going on in violation of board policies regarding unanimity of public statements.

No good deed goes unpunished.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

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