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  11:54 pm
Commenter: John D

Transgender School Guidelines
 

A thoughtful and prudent and practical set of guidelines is what is needed; unfortunately, these guidelines appear to swallow whole the one-sided, controversial, extreme LBGTQEtc. agenda on the issue.  The result is likely to be  more emotional harm and fear to many more students, particularly "straight" female students, a significant degree of new chaos in the schools, and a decline in the quality and effectiveness of the educational process.  It will not provide " a safe, nurturing environment for all."

The guidelines proceed from the erroneous claim that "gender"is "assigned" at birth.  Gender is determined by the chromosomes a child has at conception or develops shortly thereafter, and is recognized at birth.  Gender is not a feeling one can change from week to week, as the guidelines seem to assume.

The guidelines fail to recognize that transgenderism is a recognized pyschological disorder which research has shown that 75-90% of those experiencing it grow out of some time after puberty if they do not engage is heavy medication and/or surgery.

Excessive accomodating and supporting transgenderism among young, vulnerable, confused, and emotionally sensitive  children amounts to child abuse.

Failing to notify parents, or enable them to know, about these developments and actions concerning their potentially transgendering child may well violate FERPA (which I drafted).

Not requiring any evidentiary substantiation of a student's transgender claim will lead to an abuse of the system and become a mockery.

Requiring staff to accommodate to the potentially frequent(and perhaps bizarre)  name changes by students is unreasonalble.  Better to let them address students by their last names.

There is no reasonable basis for requiring attire for all school related programs, etc. to be gender neutral.  It is not necessarily discriminatory, but practical or prudential, or even harmless "traditional" distinction.

Straight students should also be protected agains harrassment or intimidaton by LGBTQEtc students.

The guidelines should be rewritten by a more balanced set of draftors to b e more balanced and prudent and less ideological and doctrinaire.

CommentID: 97163