by Stephanie Lundquist-Arora
13 girls at Fairfax High School reported to school administrators earlier this year that Israel Flores Ortiz a 19-year old illegal immigrant, who was a junior in the school, had groped them while they were changing between classes.
Ortiz received a 360-day sentence in April for multiple assaults and battery charges.
Fairfax County Public Schools hired McGuireWoods after Ortiz was arrested and the U.S. Department of Education announced that a Title IX inquiry would be conducted into the district. The district, which earns $445.353 per year, signed a agreement to pay the law firm up to $1.850 an hour. Superintendent Michelle Reid then told that the district had retained “an independent law firm outside the district to conduct a thorough review of this issue.”
The contract between the district and McGuireWoods obtained via a Freedom of Information Act Request suggests that the investigation was not “independent”, nor conducted for public accountability.
In the contract, it states that “McGuireWoods has been retained to conduct a confidential attorney-client investigation… The investigation was undertaken to provide legal advice to Client.”
The contract also specifies that McGuireWoods “work on the matter will not include… advice on any reporting obligations.”
The district does spend a staggering amount of money to hire outside attorneys. Fairfax County Public Schools has spent over $12 million in legal fees between July 2025 and April 2026. In the table below, you can see that there are still two months left in the fiscal year. This is a substantial increase over previous years.
Fiscal year |
Legal fees |
| FY 2020 | $6,401,078 |
| FY 2021 | $5,066,049 |
| FY 2022 | $6,312,989 |
| FY 2023 | $6,925,475 |
| FY 2024 | $11,619,332 |
| FY 2025 | $7,656,968 |
| FY 2026 (July 20,25-April 20,26) | $12,508,746 |
Total |
$56,490,638 |
Figures Obtained through FOIA.
Reid has announced that after McGuireWoods’ expensive investigation was completed, the external investigation showed “that our administration responded promptly and appropriately” to this behavior.
The public will, of course take her word as gospel.
District leaders have publicly cited review conclusions to address a public concern. However, the public is not allowed to evaluate the evidence or reasoning behind those conclusions.
In order to better understand the facts behind the district’s claims, I requested the McGuireWoods Report under FOIA, while recognizing that certain portions of the records may need to be redacted in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, to protect the privacy of students.
The district’s FOIA officer responded on June 11 that it would not release any part of the report and would keep the McGuireWoods documents in their entirety. The district’s FOIA office responded that the records “relate [to] an independent, external review and/or product which is protected by the attorney-client privilige” and also contains information protected under the Family Educational Rights and privacy Act.
The response is confusing. It is disturbing that Fairfax County Public Schools withholds the entire report rather than releasing non-exempt portions. Perhaps even more important, district leaders described McGuireWoods publicly as an “independent”, outside firm that was conducting an investigation of the matter. This gave the impression they had commissioned a fact-finding review in the interests of public accountability.
Reid cannot claim that an investigation is a public accountability exercise while shielding its findings as confidential legal advice. Fairfax Schools must explain why McGuireWoods did not release the report if it was an independent investigation conducted on behalf of the community. McGuireWoods, on the other hand, was hired primarily to give legal advice, under the attorney-client privilege. District leadership should then be honest with the public regarding the nature and purpose this investigation and any others before it.
It is not just about what happened at Fairfax high school. The question is whether district officials are honest with the public when it comes to how they investigate controversies, and then communicate the results.
Parents, students and taxpayers deserve better than assurances. They deserve to know the truth about this investigation, including what it was and what it wasn’t, as well as why they have been asked to accept conclusions without having seen any evidence.
Stephanie Lundquist is a Fairfax County author. This column was republished by The Daily Signal Media Group with their permission.
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 –Â 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,
