On a recent morning, Centreville High School teacher Zenaida Perez had a surprise visitor at the northern Virginia school where she teaches English as a second language: a high-powered lawyer investigating allegations that Perez had made public that a school social worker coaxed and funded a student’s 2021 abortion. 

The Clifton school district’s superintendent, Michelle Reid, responded to the allegations the next day, claiming the school system had just “learned yesterday” about the potential scandal. Last Thursday, Reid emailed Centreville High School parents, again claiming that the district had taken “immediate action to engage an external independent investigator to get all the facts.”

A week after the May 2022 meeting with Lehman, Perez says she sent the then-principal a follow-up email, dated May 13, 2022, reiterating that the school social worker had allegedly helped the student “solve the pregnancy issue.” 

Perez had another meeting with Lehman in November, a recording of which she shared with Fox News Digital. Perez asked what he had meant when he had previously told her the abortion allegations were “concerning.” Lehman responded: “I don’t remember the statement or the context of it, so I couldn’t answer that question with you right now. I don’t remember there being a conversation about that specifically.”

She reminded the principal she had repeated her concerns in a letter. When she raised her concerns again about Diaz facilitating an abortion, Lehman responded that he didn’t believe the social worker in question would have arranged an abortion for a student.

Julie Perry, a teacher at Centreville High School, recalled how she met Perez for the first time that fall, as Perry stood outside Room 222A on the school’s second floor. It was about 7:45 a.m., as students scurried into classrooms for their first period. Perry had just run on the Republican ticket for state House of Delegates, losing in a district that is majority Democratic.

“I feel strong. I have truth and God on my side.” – Zenaida Perez

“God bless Zenaida for fighting through this,” said Perry. “What’s so sad are the higher-ups. They’re not concerned about the truth. They’re concerned about keeping silent about these abortions.”

On March 7, Perez told McGowan that she raised her concerns again – now, for a sixth time – in a Zoom call with Heidi Siegmund, an attorney at McGuireWoods, a law firm based in Richmond, Va., investigating a separate issue of alleged workplace harassment at the school.

On March 19, Siegmund wrote to Perez and said: “We will also make sure the Division Counsel’s office is aware of your concerns,” according to a copy of the email.

The division counsel’s office has for years hired lawyers from Blankingship & Keith as outside counsel.

In May, Perez says she learned more shocking news: A teen told her that the social worker had offered to help her get an abortion when she was five months pregnant. The teen didn’t have an abortion and is now a young mother, Perez said.

The young mother wrote a statement about her experience, according to a copy of the letter, written in Spanish, saying a school health provider “gave me the option to have an abortion.” Perez said the student told her the same social worker had given her the advice.

Last week, as news of her allegations spread, Perez watched in disbelief as the school superintendent, Reid, claimed that school district officials had just learned about the concerns Perez had raised three years earlier and many times over. 

Early Monday morning, Perez returned to Centreville High School from summer break, armed with new resolve now that her warnings have been heard beyond Fairfax County Public Schools.

“I feel strong. I have truth and God on my side,” she said.