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 4:48 pm

Commenter: Catherine Wilkinson

Parent, Educator, and Church Leader Advocating for Trans/Non-Binary Students

I am a parent, special education teacher of trans/non-binary students, and Christian Educator and Deacon in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and this is far more than a parent's right to know and choose what is best for their children. Children are not going to change who they are, but instead they will hide, and they will die due to the stress and anxiety of not being their true selves. My daughter (assigned male at birth) is fourteen years old and diagnosed as high-functioning autistic. She is brilliant and the school system never gave her a second thought as she has always passed everything and just didn't fit in with her neurotypical peers because she was so far advanced. The stresses became more apparent as she got older. We went on more medicines to help her fit in, and then in April 2022 she came out to me as transgender. I work in education and unlike many of my family members, am familiar with children's developmental psychology due to my graduate studies.

So many of the walls that have been built through the years have came down as my daughter has been able to live her true identity. Sadly, so many of our youth do not have families that have been educated in psychology or are open enough to learn a new way of thinking, and even if they are, the students might be scared of reaching out to the adults in their lives not realizing how accepting can become. This stress leads to suicidal ideation and unhealthy spirals of dangerous behaviors. I would much rather have a transgender/non-binary child that is alive, than a child that never felt the ability to explore their identity with people they trust that is dead.

I am writing for my students and my children's peers that do not have advocates or do not know they have advocates. Perhaps a 15 year-old doesn't know what is right for them at the time, but we need to give them the advantage of knowing that we trust them. If a small child says someone touches them inappropriately we are not going to question that, but if a teen says they identify as a gender that differs from the biological sex they were assigned at birth, we feel the need to say they do not know what they are talking about?

We have came so far, and do not need to go backwards in a crisis of mental health affecting our young people.

CommentID: 200066