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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1/12/21  11:42 am
Commenter: Sarah A. Luong Appomattos Regional Governor's School for the Arts and Tech

Support!
 

I have just read through the whole proposal and I am crying tears of joy for all the hard work, research, and love that has gone into this document. For anyone out there who is claiming science, I am sorry but recent events have proven that we can quote sources on either side, and we get nowhere. These folks have put much time and energy into credible, peer-reviewed studies, and they know what they are talking about. As a high school teacher for the past 16 years at a school where many students are transgender or non-binary, I can say from experience that this will help kids. At our school we already do most of this stuff and have had almost no issues with parents or kids complaining about bathrooms or pronouns for many years. It is good to have this guidance on how to handle problems that could arise, but for the most part I have seen that students intuitively get it. So thank you, to the people who have developed this based on science and lead by love. It is really amazing how far we have come but also, how much work it takes just do to the right thing.  

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