backKing & Spalding represents Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), one of the largest public school districts in the United States and the largest public school district in Virginia, in connection with a variety of matters stemming from public allegations made by FCPS school teacher Zenaida Perez, who in August 2025, through a social media collaborator, accused a school social worker and other personnel of facilitating and paying for abortions for minor students without parental knowledge or consent, and accused senior FCPS administrators of engaging in a related “cover up.”
Ms. Perez’s accusations of secret school-facilitated, school-funded student abortions garnered national press attention and prompted related investigations by the Virginia State Police, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Senate HELP Committee. In late 2025, Ms. Perez also filed suit against FCPS and various senior school division administrators, depicting herself as a “whistleblower” and claiming defamation, employment retaliation, and violation of her First Amendment rights. FCPS engaged King & Spalding to oversee all of these overlapping investigation and litigation matters.
King & Spalding promptly moved to dismiss plaintiff Perez’s claims, and on March 5, 2026, Judge Anthony Trenga of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia heard oral argument. Two months later, on May 8, 2026, Judge Trenga dismissed all five counts of Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint and ordered the case closed. In dismissing the case, the Court favorably referenced a publicly released investigation report, prepared by King & Spalding, which concluded that “Perez’s allegations were untrue and that she falsified evidence and refused to cooperate with the initial school investigation.”
The King & Spalding team on this matter was led by partner Sean Royall, joined by partner Luke Fields, and included associates Zoe Beiner, Courtney Stone, Jared Lax, Jacob Mathew, Ian Roberson, and Benjamin Lee.