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.

Previous Comment Next Comment Back to List of Comments

9/27/22 5:50 pm

Commenter: Ezra Tozian

Strongly Oppose

Trans and non-binary students have the right to a safe and supportive learning environment, the same that cis students are already promised. Topics such as which bathroom they can use, whether they can play with their friends on a sports team, or whether they may be kicked out of their homes because the school insisted on telling their parents personal information (which, if they are keeping it from their parents shows that their home environment is not supportive and potentially dangerous) should not be on any student's mind. What should be on their mind at school is learning - not only about the curriculum, but about their peers.

The proposal does not do an adequate job explaining how someone's first amendment right is taken away by a trans or non-binary student simply wishing to exist, wishing to be respected by their peers and school employees, and protected from abuse. No one's values are being challenged here. No one's first amendment right is being taken away by having to face the reality that trans and non-binary people exist and have always existed.

I should know. I'm non-binary and I spent my all of my school years - from elementary to college - in Virginia public schools. I did not offend anyone by my mere presence. My existence did not challenge anyone's morals or values. What my existence did was invite people to expand their perspective and realize that theirs was not the only one out there and, if we were both willing to listen, presented the opportunity for both of us to learn from one another.

I sincerely hope that you give students of all genders in Virginia the chance to learn from one another in a safe and supportive environment. What has been proposed is not it.

CommentID: 149430