Leesburg police are investigating an incident that Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia is characterizing as an alleged physical altercation between a school board member and a member of the public.
It happened Monday night at a community meeting at Smart鈥檚 Mill Middle School.
Charges haven鈥檛 been filed, police said, but they鈥檙e still investigating the incident. A Leesburg police spokeswoman said it happened around 7:40 p.m., and a report was filed just after 9 p.m.
Citing the ongoing investigation, police declined to detail exactly what happened.
A spokesman for the Loudoun County Commonwealth鈥檚 Attorney declined to comment.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Loudoun County Public Schools said the school board is aware of the alleged altercation, and that the school board鈥檚 code of conduct 鈥渆stablishes clear expectations for conduct by Board members.鈥�
鈥淲e affirm our commitment to protect the LCPS community and hold all members, including ourselves, accountable to the standards set forth in our policies,鈥� the statement read.
Heather Gottlieb, who identified herself as the community member involved in the incident, said she was attending the renaming committee meeting for Frances Hazel Reid Elementary in the Smart鈥檚 Mill library.
Gottlieb is not a parent and said she’s lived in the area for 35 years and attends meetings because “education and public education is important.”
Once the meeting adjourned, Gottlieb said she walked toward the school board member, who was having a conversation with 鈥渙ne of the Black men on the committee鈥� at the time.
鈥淚 just was uncomfortable with her body language and how she was walking over,鈥� Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb started to record, 鈥渏ust to make sure if anything happened, that I got it on video,鈥� she said.
Someone who Gottlieb suspected to be a school board member鈥檚 aide informed the board member she was being recorded.
星空传媒 isn鈥檛 naming the board member because charges haven鈥檛 been filed.
Then, according to the 46-second recording, the board member said, 鈥淥h, I鈥檓 sorry, I was being filmed.鈥� At that point, Gottlieb said the board member bumped her using her shoulder as she walked by.
Then, as the board member walked away to grab her purse, Gottlieb can be heard saying, 鈥淲ow.鈥�
鈥淚 said, 鈥榃ow,鈥� because I was surprised that she actually touched me and pushed me,鈥� Gottlieb said. 鈥淎nd she was like, 鈥榊eah, wow.鈥� And I was like, 鈥極K,鈥� and so then she picked up her purse and slammed her purse in my face.鈥�
Gottlieb said when the board member swung the purse, 鈥淢y phone hit my face. I wasn鈥檛 bleeding or have any cuts or anything like that.鈥�
However, some of the attendees who saw the exchange urged her to report the incident, which is ultimately what prompted her to file a police report later Monday.
鈥淎n apology would be great, but that doesn’t make me confident that this couldn’t happen to somebody else,鈥� Gottlieb said. 鈥淚 fear that she doesn’t have control, right? That pretty egregious to do in a public meeting.鈥�
星空传媒 has contacted the board member for comment.
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