In a narrow vote Thursday, the Suffolk School Board approved policy changes for transgender and nonbinary students to align with model policies introduced by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2023.
Beginning in July, students must use pronouns that align with their gender assigned at birth unless a parent submits a written request. School employees cannot be compelled to use a student’s preferred pronouns.
The board’s vote also strikes specific discrimination protections based on gender identity; it removes students’ ability to object to counseling requested by their parents; requires records on students’ gender identity be shared with parents even if the student objects; cuts out most terms defined in the policy, such as gender and gender identity, leaving just three: “parent,” “sex” and “transgender student:” and mandates athletic participation and bathroom use to follow a student’s gender assigned at birth.
LGBT community advocates fear the updates will signal a “license to bully” gender-nonconforming students and will worsen transgender and nonbinary students’ mental health.
“Suffolk Public Schools says its mission is to produce productive citizens,” Valerie Boykin, NAACP Suffolk-Nansemond branch president, said during the meeting. “But how can we expect our students to become confident and engaged members of society if we deny them the right to be their true selves in the one place where they are required to spend most of their day?”
Board Member Kimberly Slingluff, who chairs the board’s policy review committee, said the division still has general policies on bullying and discrimination that apply to all students. She questioned the need for a specific provision on bullying based on gender identity following reports to the policy committee that students “don’t care about other students and their gender choices.”
“If it’s not bothering the students within the schools, then I don’t see how we’re emphasizing how heightened it is,” Slingluff said. “I’m not saying it’s not heightened, I’m saying that’s the report that we’ve been given.”
Suffolk last updated its policy in 2023. Superintendent John Gordon on Thursday said the prior iteration combined elements of Youngkin’s and former Gov. Ralph Northam’s model policies for transgender and nonbinary students and strived to balance students’ and parents’ rights.
“Students’ rights are not in this policy at all,” Gordon said.
Board Member Tyron Riddick questioned decisions to strike requirements that the division’s mental health professionals receive annual training on topics related to LGBT students. He said he hopes the board has a change of heart.
“School has to have something in it for everyone,” Riddick said. “And that something in it could be the mental health professionals and that training that they need to address student issues that may arise from their gender identity and their perception of how they’re going to be perceived.”
Gordon said the administration will continue to support staff in better understanding the specific mental health needs of LGBT students, but that it will have to be part of a general training on student mental health.
“The support will still occur, however, the process is going to be different now.”
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