Department of Education to revise guidelines on transgender students

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The Virginia Department of Education unveiled plans that revise its guidelines on transgender students.

“VDOE is replacing the 2021 Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools with model policies that support positive and safe learning environments for all students while respecting the rights and values of parents,” VDOE said on its website.

Among the proposed changes: Schools can only recognize a transgender student’s gender if their parent has requested it in writing. Otherwise, teachers cannot refer to students by different names or pronouns.

The policy also says that if a child is seeing a counselor for gender-related issues, a parent must know.

A student’s identity also cannot be changed on school records without a legal document from parents.

For more information, click/tap here for the model policy.

Public comment on the draft model policies will open in later this month on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website.