CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — The Chesterfield County School Board delayed voting on a transgender policy during its Tuesday night meeting.
The draft policy under consideration would adhere to Governor Youngkin's 2023 Virginia Department of Education model policies, which:
- require parent approval for students to go by a different gender identity
- require students to use the bathroom that aligns with their biological gender at birth
All school boards in Virginia are encouraged to adopt and follow these policies, however, Chesterfield Schools does not currently follow Youngkin's policy but instead uses a previous policy from former Governor Northam's administration.
The board decided to revisit the issue next month.
Parents and students filled the meeting to share their views on the issue.
“All we want is for our child to be comfortable, safe, and be able to focus on learning when he walks into school," parent Nora Hazelgrove told board members. "The revised policies would change that for him... it will lead to a climate of increased anxiety, discrimination, create permission structure for othering and bullying and will force many kids into hiding."
"Thank you for listening to the parents' concerns," another community member shared. “Let me be clear that the parents here asking for these revisions to go forward are not anti-anything they are for common sense parental rights."
"This is unacceptable. I can’t believe we are talking about this right now. I can’t believe this up today,” one student said at the meeting.
"The policies in place protect every kid,' a parent added. "Please don’t adopt these policies and stick with what is working."
"I’m extremely concerned that Chesterfield has not aligned with Governor Youngkin's policies. This policy was first presented in August 2023. But thank you for taking the first steps tonight," another parent said.
"It’s critical we get this done now. It’s past time. We’re asking you to stop the delay and vote now to align the district policies with the revised transgender issue policies advised by Governor Youngkin,” a parent said at the meeting.
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