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.
Previous Comment     Next Comment     Back to List of Comments
1/5/21  8:46 pm
Commenter: KF

Strongly support the model policies
 

I strongly support the adoption of these model policies because it is important we support all our public school students in their learning. This cannot happen when we do not *at a minimum* call students by their preferred name/pronoun and protect them from bullying based on gender identity. I attended Fairfax County Public Schools for K-12 and teachers were always willing to address Michael as Mike or Katherine as Katie when asked because that is the proper way to treat children. This is no different. As a parent, I have had children attend several Virginia public school systems (Culpeper, Madison, Albemarle) and I would love to have these policies adopted while my children are still attending Virginia public schools. 

CommentID: 88494