Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

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.

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10/26/22 4:44 pm

Commenter: Anonymous

Oppose

This policy is shameful and is simply a cheap move to gain favor with a select, population that is trans-phobic. This policy has zero roots in any kind of real child protection. There is nothing in our current, more accepting, policies within several school districts that jeopardizes a parent’s right with the treatment of their child in the school environment. Current policies do not push the child towards any one gender identity, they allow for our teachers and the school to make student’s feel accepted in their everyday life.

If reality, this proposed policy will be severely harmful to our children. First and foremost, the proposed policy treats children who may have gender identity questions or are trans as something that is “wrong.” This will not just be a part of school policy, but the attitude the policy reflects will filter down to the student population if it is enforced. This will serve to project upon the student population that non-binary and trans students are not a respected part of society. Students will pick up on this and feel guilty about their own feelings or project the Anti-trans sentiment on their fellow students.

My child now identifies as non-binary and has recently become an adult. Their last year of high school their school was accepting in their choice of pronouns and in their new nickname. They felt accepted at school when they came “out” at school with support by their school and their classmates. This helped a lot with the depression they were battling at the time. They didn’t feel comfortable to telling their parents till later on that year.

I am extremely grateful to my child’s school and its environment for being supportive. My child has stressed to me that should this policy go into effect, we will likely lose children to severe depression and even suicide because they feel trapped and insecure in their daily life at school. School should be a safe space for students. Coming “out” at home is not always safe for some children. Why push for a policy that jeopardizes students in the one space that should be safe and accepting for them by inflicting the transphobic fear of some on the entire population. We should be better people in society today. For the last 30 years, gay and trans rights have been improving, what a rotten step backwards this policy would be.

CommentID: 200027