Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Education
 
Board
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  8:21 am
Commenter: Anonymous

this could be easily abused, oppose
 

I'm worried that my child could be negatively affected by the school or governing body for stating an observation that my child may not have been made aware of.  Why would disciplinary action be taken for a student OR teacher that may honestly not have known there was a 'preferred' pronoun. If it is not made obvious to the student or faculty member, it should not be considered harassment or discrimination as a 'preference' may not be obvious.  The schools already do an extremely poor job at 'stopping' bullying regarding students, maybe that should be worked on before more occurs. This could easily be abused by an individual to use this against another for selfish reasons (bullying) if this is the action that would be taken for a common and obvious assumption that has otherwise not been brought to the "harasser's" attention. 

CommentID: 88801