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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1/7/21  12:59 pm
Commenter: Mark Lofthus

No! (me / myself / I)
 

I am submitting a negative comment regarding this draft guidance document. As a human being, and someone who is objectively professional I am offended by this document in many ways. Please do not have guidance on this topic. Instead, if there is too much pressure to address it - please address things as becoming co-ed. The simple use of parenthesis and pronouns after a person's name is not professional and offensive to me. I am aware that there is a positive spin on it where you are to let people know what you want to be called, however that entire idea is counter to so much of what we teach young people to make generalizations and develop a notion of patterns, opposites, and a variety of topics. When someone uses parenthesis, even in a document like this - it is full of bias. To me it shows that both the authors and reviewers of the document already accept transgender topics as morally acceptable, normal and are creating ways to fill a new chapter book in an English class. If we are to be accepting of everyone you also have to consider a large group of people that do not believe this is OK. Forcing everyone to be OK with everything will reduce enrollment (maybe that's the hidden purpose?). Beyond the formatting, the content strikes me as so strange and uncommon that I can't help but wonder why is this a public school issue please remove this topic from needing a guidance document.

CommentID: 88719