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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1/18/21  7:10 pm
Commenter: Anonymous

Concerned parent
 

I read all documentation with trying to place myself in the shoes of the students and parents who have children who are gender non-conforming.  It seems very reasonable to me that for gender non-conforming students there should be access to facilities that help them maintain their privacy when changing for school related activities.  I can see there is true value in that consideration.   However, the guiding principle that a school staff member may not question a student who enters a gender specified bathroom and is only known to the staff as the opposite gender clearly poses problems for mischievous behavior at best, and concerns for safety to the other students at worst.  

I also have to wonder how would each school district be able to determine an accurate percentage of the student population they would need to provide these facility considerations for so school taxes are not being wasted on an ambiguous budgetary line item?

CommentID: 90669