Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Guidance Document Change: The Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools guidance document was developed in response to House Bill 145 and Senate Bill 161, enacted by the 2020 Virginia General Assembly, which directed the Virginia Department of Education to develop and make available to each school board model policies concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools. These guidelines address common issues regarding transgender students in accordance with evidence-based best practices and include information, guidance, procedures, and standards relating to: compliance with applicable nondiscrimination laws; maintenance of a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination and harassment for all students; prevention of and response to bullying and harassment; maintenance of student records; identification of students; protection of student privacy and the confidentiality of sensitive information; enforcement of sex-based dress codes; and student participation in sex-specific school activities, events, and use of school facilities.

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1/8/21 3:58 pm

Commenter: Seth Oldham

Completely in support of supporting trans kids

I am wholeheartedly in favor the Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia Public Schools. All kids should be secure in knowing that respect and safety are cornerstones of their school experience. Transgender kids have had precious little of that for too long.

Those who try to deny transgender kids these rights, which they assume so automatically for their own children, would carelessly trample on the well-being of living, breathing, vulnerable, young people. They attempt to do so with a small edit to the dehumanizing arguments that they have used for so long to marginalize and attack African Americans, Jews, gays, foreigners of all persuasions, and hosts of others not like them. I'm not going to tell those people what it means to be them. I expect them to leave me and my children to exercise that same freedom ourselves, and to get out of the way as the teachers and administrators in Virginia's public schools work to create an environment where we are all free to do that.

CommentID: 89062