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  10:14 pm
Commenter: Rachel Boggan

Protect Trans and Non-binary Youth!
 

As a clinical mental health provider for youth and families and a college educator, I fully support this guidance which affirms the health, safety and well-being of transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming youth.  It is a widely established fact in the fields of medicine, psychology and education that best practice for the health, safety and well-being of youth is affirming gender identity.  In light of the wealth of research on the impact of hostile and discriminatory school environments on the mental health of transgender and non-binary youth(thetrevorproject.org; hrc.org), adopting this guidance to ensure all schools in Virginia develop and implement specific, explicitly affirming policies and protections for transgender and non-binary youth is not only best practice, it is life saving action.  

CommentID: 96821