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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2/3/21  4:59 pm
Commenter: Anonymous

STRONGLY OPPOSE THIS APPROACH - ENTIRELY INSENSITIVE AND UNFAIR TO EVERYONE!!!
 

This policy is incredible bad in how it is put together.  Rather than balance and think through all of the people involved and the related rights, this policy tramples numerous well-established constitutional rights and therefore is guaranteed to provoke litigation and end up being overturned.  Why attempt something so horrifically one-sided that tramples existing rights and will be lost.

Rather than consider everyone's concerns, this is horrifically one-sided approach that ignores parent's rights, constitutional rights (including freedom of religion) all using a terrible threat that if one disagrees, one will take their children away.

Also, the policy is supposed to be sensitive to students wrestling with this issue.  Instead, this is written as an over the top advocacy/propaganda document - one will not create sensitivity by being entirely insensitive to other concerns, which is the case here.

This is bad for transgender students too because their situation will be thrown up in the air when this policy is overturned through litigation and outcry leading to political action and reversal.

CommentID: 95911