Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Education
 
Board
State Board of Education
 
Guidance Document Change: The Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools guidance document was developed in response to House Bill 145 and Senate Bill 161, enacted by the 2020 Virginia General Assembly, which directed the Virginia Department of Education to develop and make available to each school board model policies concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools. These guidelines address common issues regarding transgender students in accordance with evidence-based best practices and include information, guidance, procedures, and standards relating to: compliance with applicable nondiscrimination laws; maintenance of a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination and harassment for all students; prevention of and response to bullying and harassment; maintenance of student records; identification of students; protection of student privacy and the confidentiality of sensitive information; enforcement of sex-based dress codes; and student participation in sex-specific school activities, events, and use of school facilities.
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2/3/21  12:32 pm
Commenter: Anonymous

Do Not support
 

"While the school must support and even encourage such sexual inquiry, the policy instructs staff to pursue potential removal of children from a home using Child Protective Services, should the parents become aware and disagree." If this is true this is a pretty big overreach by the government. I don't really know anyone who supports bullying or wants anyone to feel uncomfortable, but it feels like the government is going out of its way to push kids in the direction of questioning themselves rather than letting them be kids like we have for as long as I've been on this earth. If there should be separate bathrooms and locker rooms for this small minority, then schools should figure that out, but going out of your way to exclude parents in having any say seems a bit authoritarian. Perhaps there can be a compromise somewhere, but as written, this policy seems designed to create more problems than it solves.

CommentID: 95337