The Richmond City School Board, which oversees Richmond Public Schools (RPS) in Richmond, Virginia, voted 8-1 on October 2, 2022, to approve a resolution rejecting the Virginia Department of Education’s policy on transgender students. The policy, titled 2022 Model Policies On The Privacy, Dignity, And Respect For All Students And Parents In Virginia’s Public Schools, mandated the following approaches to transgender students in the state’s public schools:
- Transgender students must use the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their assigned sex at birth
- The legal name and sex of a student cannot be changed unless official legal documentation or a court order is presented
- Teachers and school officials must refer to a student by the pronouns associated with their sex at birth
- Teachers are not required to use a student’s preferred name if they believe doing so would violate their constitutionally protected rights
The resolution, RPS Transgender Student Protection Resolution, formally rejects the new policies on transgender students put forth by Republican Gov. GlennYoungkin’s administration and affirms what the board views as its “commitment to providing protections for all students regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”
The Virginia Department of Education stated in its description of its guidance that the policy aims to establish “the rights of parents to determine how their children will be raised and educated.”
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