Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Education
 
Board
State Board of Education
 
Guidance Document Change: Every day, throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, educators and school leaders work to ensure that all students have an opportunity to receive a high-quality education. As a part of that work, educators strive to meet the individual needs of all students entrusted to their care, and teachers work to create educational environments where all students thrive. The Virginia Department of Education (the “Department”) recognizes that each child is a unique individual with distinctive abilities and characteristics that should be valued and respected. All students have the right to attend school in an environment free from discrimination, harassment, or bullying. The Department supports efforts to protect and encourage respect for all students. Thus, we have a collective responsibility to address topics such as the treatment of transgender students with necessary compassion and respect for all students. The Department also fully acknowledges the rights of parents to exercise their fundamental rights granted by the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. The Code of Virginia reaffirms the rights of parents to determine how their children will be raised and educated. Empowering parents is not only a fundamental right, but it is essential to improving outcomes for all children in Virginia. The Department is mindful of constitutional protections that prohibit governmental entities from requiring individuals to adhere to or adopt a particular ideological belief. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees religious freedom and prohibits the government from compelling speech that is contrary to an individual’s personal or religious beliefs. The Department embarked on a thorough review of the Model Policies Guidance adopted on March 4, 2021 (the “2021 Model Policies”). The 2021 Model Policies promoted a specific viewpoint aimed at achieving cultural and social transformation in schools. The 2021 Model Policies also disregarded the rights of parents and ignored other legal and constitutional principles that significantly impact how schools educate students, including transgender students. With the publication of these 2022 Model Policies (the “2022 Model Policies”), the Department hereby withdraws the 2021 Model Policies, which shall have no further force and effect. The Department issues the 2022 Model Policies to provide clear, accurate, and useful guidance to Virginia school boards that align with statutory provisions governing the Model Policies. See Code of Virginia, § 22.1-23.3 (the “Act”). Significantly, the 2022 Model Policies also consider over 9,000 comments submitted to the Department during the public comment period for the 2021 Model Policies.
Previous Comment     Next Comment     Back to List of Comments
10/26/22  12:49 pm
Commenter: Anonymous

I OPPOSE the draft policy and want the VDOE to reject it.
 

The guidance in this policy demeans people. It dehumanizes them for the sake of... nothing? There is nothing to be gained by denying people their right to self identity. There is much to be lost. To be 100% clear, I OPPOSE the draft policy and want the VDOE to reject it. I am an educator in the state. I know first hand what harm actions like those proposed in this policy will have. I know that young people need to feel supported and heard, particularly when then are expressing vulnerable emotions. There is nothing in this policy that is supported by the current findings of multiple medical organizations into the health and well-being of our children. The American Academy of Pediatrics, "an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults," has made their official position on such overtly harmful policies as this one quite clear when they write:  "Our organizations strongly oppose any legislation or regulation that would discriminate against gender-diverse individuals, including children and adolescents, or limit access to comprehensive evidence-based care which includes the provision of gender-affirming care. Any discrimination based on gender identity or expression is damaging to the socioemotional health of children and families as evidenced by increased risk of suicide in this population." We are the role models for our children. When you pass this measure, you say to your children, children who may come to you one day with these same concerns or similar ones, that they are not acceptable as they are. That you do not, in fact, love them "unconditionally." Because, truth be told, all true love is unconditional, is it not? Everything else is just acceptance. I love my children just as they are, and to deny them that love, to show them, through either my words or my actions that some innate part of them is "less than," is to take away something that isn't mine to take away. I gave them my heart years ago. You, no doubt, have children in your lives that you have loved with all your heart. Would you take that love away because of who your child is, or grows to be? Would you wish that on yourself, should you be in that same child shoes? If so, shame on you. Shame on us all. 

CommentID: 198826