Fairfax County school counselor kept job after solicitation conviction

Darren Thornton, who began working at Glasgow in 2020, was arrested in November 2020 in an online chatting operation on charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor in Chesterfield County, according to court records, while working in Fairfax County. He was convicted March 2022 and was eventually given a five-year suspended sentence. Thornton also had to register as a sex offender, with the initial registration on June 21 of this year, the database shows.

Thornton was arrested again in June 2022 in another online chatting operation on charges of solicitation of prostitution and frequenting a bawdy place, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which reported on the police operation.

A Chesterfield police spokeswoman said Fairfax school system was notified about both of Thornton’s arrests.

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In a letter to the school community late last week, Fairfax Superintendent Michelle Reid said she and the board fired the Glasgow Middle School counselor when they were made aware of the conviction. School officials are also trying to get his license revoked.

“ … I want to make this very clear: this entire situation is unacceptable from any perspective. We are deeply concerned about how this happened in one of our schools,” Reid said in the letter. An investigation into the matter is being conducted, she said. The school system declined further comment.

The Virginia Department of Corrections is investigating the incident, a spokesman from the agency said Monday, but declined to answer further questions. The spokesman said the investigation will “examine the full scope of the incident.”

A person answered the phone at a number listed for Thornton on Monday, but replied “No you don’t” when asked by a Washington Post reporter if it was the correct number for Darren Thornton.

Shatter the Silence Fairfax County Public Schools — a group of parents, alumni and current students — said Thornton being retained as a district employee despite his charge and conviction was “disappointing but not surprising.”

“School bureaucrats, at FCPS, cannot be trusted to police themselves. That’s why 25,000 citizens have signed a petition asking the Department of Justice and VA Attorney General to investigate FCPS for systemically covering up child sex abuse,” the group said in a statement Monday. “We also ask our lawmakers in Richmond and Washington to pass new laws to keep children safe and hold school bureaucrats responsible when they fail.”

The Fairfax County Parents Association called on the school system to immediately enforce a new policy that would require every system employee with one-on-one contact with children to be subject to annual criminal background checks.

“The circumstances that finally led to this week’s decision by FCPS to fire this counselor underscore the deep concerns parents have about FCPS’s apparent bureaucratic inability to stay focused on executing not only its key mission of excellence in academics but also its key role as partners with parents in the safety of children while in the custody of the school system,” read the statement from the parent group.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.