VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — More than a hundred students and parents spoke before the Virginia Beach City Public Schools board Tuesday night about the state's model policy regarding transgender students in Tuesday night's school board meeting.
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The Virginia Beach City Public Schools Board of Education holds a meeting to address a resolution on a policy for transgender students. May 9, 2023.
Dozens of parents and students voiced their concerns and support for the state’s model policy impacting transgender genders.
News 3
The Virginia Beach City Public Schools Board of Education holds a meeting to address a resolution on a policy for transgender students. May 9, 2023.
Board member Jessica Owens introduced a resolution for Virginia Beach Schools to commit to eliminating discrimination against LGBTQ+ students in school. It goes against Governor Glenn Youngkin's policy on transgender students in schools.
"Everyday messages are sent to transgender students," one Virginia Beach high school student said before the board. "The message is ‘you aren’t welcome here. You don’t deserve to be here.’ This resolution will reverse that."
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A Virginia Beach high school student speaks before the school board during a meeting. May 9, 2023.
"It is simply a reaffirmation to make sure trans students have respect. It will send a message that our voices matter," another Virginia Beach student said.
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A Virginia Beach high school student speaks before the school board during a meeting. May 9, 2023.
The state’s model policy would require parental approval for any changes to students' names, nicknames and pronouns, and it would require parental notification and permission for counseling services “pertaining to gender.” The model policy states that students shall use bathrooms that correspond to his or her sex.
"Having a safe place in school where people feel equal have a valuable outcome," Owens said. "Teachers have reached out and they have questions. They want to know if they are going to be given additional responsibilities of tracking down parents, if a child wants to use a new nickname, anytime they suspect a relationship has changed. It would be putting something else on their plate and not knowing how that's going to be received by the parents, whether they are going to get a hostile response."
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Virginia Beach City Public School Board Member Jessica Owens May 9, 2023
School board member Victoria Manning spoke out against the resolution.
"Parents have the right to not have kids' secrets kept from them," Manning said.
Parents who spoke during the meeting agreed with the state’s model policy.
"Why are we making a resolution for a small set of students?" one parent said. "We should be protecting all students. You are all attempting to keep parents in the dark."
"Youngkin’s policies strengthen the rights of families. It is not your job to weaken families," another parent said.
More than 100 speakers signed up to speak at tonight's Virginia Beach school board meeting regarding the state's model policy for transgender students pic.twitter.com/WRIcNFZlT2
A couple of school board members made a motion to defer the conversation until the model policy is released by the state's superintendent.
It’s important to note, the state’s model policy will not become final until the review is complete. A final version would then need to be approved by the state superintendent.
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