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  9:58 pm
Commenter: Alexandria City School Board

Policy Concerns
 

As the Alexandria City School Board, we are concerned about VDOEs “model policies” for school divisions that affect transgender youth because these do not align with our mission, vision and core values to support all students and staff, in particular, our core value of ensuring that we provide a welcoming environment for everyone in our school community. We especially take issue with the following requirements:

  • Referring to each student only using the name that appears on the official student record, or using a nickname commonly associated with the name that appears on a student’s record.

  • Referring to each student using only the pronouns appropriate to the sex appearing in the student’s official record, that is, male pronouns for students whose legal sex is male, and female pronouns for students whose legal sex is female. 

  • Only referring to students by a name other than those in the official record, or pronouns other than those appropriate to the sex appearing in the student’s official record, if an eligible student or student’s parent have instructed the school division to do so in writing. 

  • School divisions instructing personnel not to “conceal material information” about a student, including information related to gender. 

  • Requiring the use of bathrooms, locker rooms and other “intimate spaces” based on sex, 

  • Singling out athletics participation by stating that the appropriate participation must be determined by sex. 

The proposed requirements set forth in VDOE’s recently released “model policies” for school divisions set limitations that can inadvertently cause harm to transgender students in 3 ways:

  • The policy as written assumes that all students come from supportive and caring family environments. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Requiring school staff to inform parents/or guardians when a student identifies as transgender, before the child is ready, has the potential to put students at risk of verbal abuse, physical harm, and even suicide. Children need to know that they have adults around them whom they can trust. While it is definitely unfortunate, sometimes those trusted individuals are not those with whom they reside. School and school staff provide an alternative safe environment, one in which children are familiar and comfortable with and have access to on a regular basis.

  • The model policies do not align with evidence-based practices for transgendered youth as delineated in section 22.1-23.3 of the Code of Virginia, specifically as it pertains to the maintenance of students records, the protection of student privacy, and the confidentiality of sensitive information. 

  • The policy leaves little room for an individualized approach to student needs. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to educating students and providing them with social-emotional support and care. School staff need flexibility on how to best address the very complex needs of students who face the inevitable challenges that come with exploring one’s gender identity. These policies fail to account for the nuances that must be navigated when addressing the needs of students as individuals with varying needs and circumstances. 

The Alexandria City School Board initially adopted a policy of nondiscrimination in education in December 1996. Since 2013, the nondiscrimination policy has recognized gender identity and gender expression as protected classes for equal educational opportunities, and we continue the practice of reviewing and revising our policies with an equity lens. School Board Policy JB: Nondiscrimination in Education protects students from discrimination due to gender expression, gender identity, sexual harassment and transgender status.

Our school division is committed to the fulfillment of its ACPS 2025 Strategic Plan: Equity for All  which was adopted by our School Board in June 2020. We believe that these “model policies” undermine this vital work and set the clock back on the gains we have accomplished as a school division. We respectfully request that these “model policies” not be adopted by school divisions as we are convinced that they will have a lasting and harmful impact on our youth across the Commonwealth. It not only impacts students who identify as transgender, it also affects their families, friends and loved ones who will grapple with the lasting effects on these youth including mental health issues, suicide, substance abuse/use and the impact on their social emotional well-being. We need to stay focused on the academic recovery of our students and refrain from this distracting work.  

CommentID: 202285