FCPS Lifts the Veil on the Abortion “Scandal” with Investigation

Preliminary Investigations Reveal Truths about Outlandish "October Surprise" from the Republican Party

You either live under a rock, or you are really good at filtering out the fake news of MAGA Times outlets, if you haven’t heard about the supposed “abortion scandal” at Centreville High School in Fairfax County Virginia. It was the perfect “October Surprise” except that it began on August 5, 2025, and created chaos in Fairfax County before school had even started. 

For over ten weeks, only an outlandish story told by right-wing media was known until FCPS published their preliminary investigation last Thursday, which was in response to demands by the Trump Administration’s U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Senator Billy Cassidy. There is no word yet from the Youngkin Administration about their State Police investigation which began on August 14, 2025.

Last Thursday, October 16, 2025, Dr. Reid released the preliminary findings of the abortion allegations related to Centreville High School (HS). Her letter to the community included links to the outside investigation performed by King & Spaulding, a highly regarded “top-tier” law firm in Washington, DC. At the end of this blog, we will use the 61-page investigation to correct the lurid stories released by an Ohio blogger (Walter Curt) and Fox/Fairfax Times reporter (Asra Nomani), as reported to them by Zendaia Perez, an ESOL teacher at Centreville HS. 

Thankfully, the thorough, preliminary investigation found that “based on fact-finding, it appears that the allegations are untrue.” In addition, King and Spaulding found the “shocking” allegations by Perez, Curt, and Nomani that “FCPS procured and paid for minor abortions without parent consent, are very likely untrue and lacking in factual or evidentiary support.” In summary, King and Spaulding’s report finds:

The evidence we have reviewed indicates that Mrs. Diaz and Mr. Lehman acted appropriately and consistent with FCPS policies and regulations and with applicable federal and state laws. Mrs. Perez’s allegations appear to be rooted in speculation. It also appears that in her zeal to prove her suspicions true, Mrs. Perez procured statements from students that were false.

In doing so, Mrs. Perez, among other things, violated policies and regulations that require teachers to maintain professional boundaries with students. The two student statements procured by Mrs. Perez to support her claims both appear to be unreliable and are contradicted by other evidence, including Mrs. Perez’s own contradictory admissions and recent statements by one of the former CHS students in question…. There is also evidence suggesting that Mrs. Perez manipulated both statements to convey factual assertions she knew to be untrue, and that did not reflect the students’ actual knowledge or beliefs.

Will this October Surprise Backfire for Republicans?

It is interesting that this Republican “October Surprise” backfired so spectacularly, after the success of so many “surprises” over the last four years. Fortunately, it was clear to most people that this outlandish story was intended to influence the 2025 gubernatorial election by somehow connecting the democratic candidates to lurid details of “abortions facilitated” by public school staff in Virginia. Nevertheless, this story has been used repeatedly against the Democratic candidates.

These seemingly false claims caused significant harm to many, including unrelated students and staff at Centreville HS. These students have been subject to filming by at least one known extremist group, Tradition Family Property (TFP) Student Action, who were identified by the red capes they wear. TFP Student Action is the campus outreach component of “The American TFP” which has been cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a hate group for their “virulently anti-LGBT” views. In fact, a teacher asked that the Fairfax County School Board review their policies about filming students on school grounds due to concerns over recent filming of minors by TFP Action or their allies . She indicated that this group comes to protest at high schools around Fairfax County, which is a concern to many parents, guardians, and staff because it endangers the students and their safety.

Additionally, there is potentially great harm done to all of the FCPS staff and leadership targeted by these claims, especially those named by Nomani in her reporting. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of social media posts threatening prison sentences and worse to innocent people involved in these likely untrue allegations, from Dr. Reid to the Centreville HS principal and social worker named in the allegations. 

Also, the legal fees incurred by FCPS have been costly, and these funds will need to come from an already highly stretched budget. As we know from previous “scandals” like the National Merit Commended Certificate “scandal” that also involved Nomani and AG Miyares, the outside legal costs for FCPS were in excess of $1.6 million. 

There are many who have been harmed by the sensationalism surrounding the sensational allegations by Perez, Curt, and Nomani, including the students directly involved, most of whom are immigrants and many of whom lack parental guardianship or housing. These students were drawn into this “scandal” without their consent, and (per the report) with some coercion. 

Ultimately, the investigation found that the social worker targeted by Perez was irreparably harmed by the likely false accusations, which include accusations of criminal acts! She deserves support from the community and compensation for all of the harm done to her and her family:

“Sadly, for all concerned, Mrs. Perez has not allowed the limits of her factual knowledge to hold her back. Based on assumptions and guesses, she has falsely and very publicly accused Carolina Diaz of criminal acts, causing Mrs. Diaz great emotional distress, interrupting her career, forcing her to incur significant personal legal expenses, subjecting Diaz and her family to threats, and harming many others in the process.” - King and Spaulding report, page 24

This is not the last we will hear of this story. Let’s just hope that more people are not harmed by this kind of faulty reporting and retaliatory actions. 

4 Public Education will analyze the failures of the original reports about the Centreville HS “abortion scandal” next week. We are looking forward to showing you what we found.