VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach is the first of the Hampton Roads school divisions to officially vote in the 2023 updated Model Policies.
Suffolk is slated to discuss its version of the state’s new policies regarding transgender students Thursday night.
It’s been months of passionate debate between students, parents and school board members in Virginia Beach.
"I am definitely not in favor of not being able to call a student by the name they prefer," said Board Member Beverly Anderson, who ultimately abstained from the vote.
"I believe these policies will support parents and I will vote for them," Board Member Kathleen Brown said before she voted yes.
The board ultimately voted 9-1 to approve their version of the 2023 Model Policies, with Anderson abstaining. The policies are largely the same as what the Virginia Department of Education handed out, with some changes, which Governor Glenn Youngkin has previously said is allowed.
"I firmly believe that there is no other decision for school boards, then to adopt the model policies or Policies that are consistent with the model policy," said Youngkin in a previous interview with 13News Now.
As for how the policies will be implemented in the classroom every day, that remains to be seen.
In a statement from Kathleen Slinde, President of the Virginia Beach Education Association, she said, "We, as employees, have no idea how this will be implemented because this will be done by the VBCPS administration. The VBEA would absolutely want the administration to include the educators and employees who work with students daily and who will carry the greatest responsibility for carrying out the policy’s actions in deciding next steps.”
In an interview with 13News Now the day after they vote to approve their version of the policies, Gov. Youngkin said he looks forward to reviewing what they've passed.
"I'm very glad they brought them back up and I'm not 100% familiar with what they passed because I haven't had a chance to review it today," Youngkin said. "At the heart of the model policies, are to ensure that all children and all families are treated with respect and their privacy is protected and the dignity that God grants on all of us. At the heart of the policies is empowering parents to be at the head of the table and that no decision should be made for a child without parents fully being engaged and authorizing it."
The next division slated to vote on its version of the model policies will likely be Suffolk. They’re scheduled to have a second reading of what they intend to vote on Thursday night.
Based on their agenda, it looks as though they are taking a path similar to Virginia Beach in altering what was handed down from the state to make it their own, but keeping them "consistent."
In the Newport News, Hampton and Portsmouth, those divisions follow their previously adopted policies from 2021, all modeled under the previous Ralph Northam Administration. Chesapeake and Norfolk are two divisions that do not carry explicitly written transgender policy sections. That makes Suffolk and Virginia Beach the two cities that have advanced the most with these policies to reflect the Governor's latest changes.
Some highlighted differences between Suffolk's proposed policy and VDOE's policy, is where it says teachers must notify parents about a student’s preferred gender if it differs from their official record unless that disclosure would pose a danger to a student’s health and mental wellness.
The division also said they would accept documentation from a licensed mental health professional saying it would pose a risk to a student’s health to use pronouns associated with their sex instead of their preferred gender.