Henrico residents urge school board to make a decision on new state transgender student policies

Several Henrico County residents addressed the Henrico School Board about the state’s 2023 model policies regarding transgender students during the board’s public meeting Aug. 24.

Two Henrico parents advocated for the board to reject the new guidelines, released by the Virginia Department of Education on July 18, and keep enforcing the 2021 state model policies instead. One Henrico resident argued to ban books referencing “gender and sexually explicit content” in all Henrico elementary school libraries.

The school board has not yet made a decision on whether to adopt or reject the state’s model policies. Henrico Schools will conduct a “thorough” legal review and community discussion on the topic, HCPS official spokesperson Eileen Cox told the Citizen in July.

The policies would require teachers and administrators to divulge information about a student’s gender identity to their parents, prevent students who are minors from being referred to by names and pronouns that are not approved by their parents, and require school programming and facilities to be based on sex assigned at birth, with some parent-requested exceptions.

Leigh Ann Luscan, a Henrico parent and a leader in the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond, said that transgender or nonbinary students who lack the family support her own 11-year-old nonbinary child receives will be made even more vulnerable under the new policies.

“My child happens to be nonbinary. And I asked them what they thought was really important that I should make sure I relay to all of you,” she said at the meeting. “And they want to remind us that not all kids, not all students, come from homes where it is safe to come out to their grown ups.”

Luscan said that the policies would cause mental health and safety risks for transgender or nonbinary teens that do not live with families that support their gender identity.

“What my 11-year-old does not know about, that I do, are the serious and tragic risks to the mental health and wellbeing of trans and nonbinary youth when they are not affirmed by the adults in their lives,” she said. “So when these kids don’t have the option to come out, as their homes aren’t safe, and they don’t have the current paperwork on file at school, they stay in the closet and they suffer.”

Rachel Lawrence, a retired HCPS math teacher, a parent of two HCPS graduates, and a church volunteer and tutor, also urged the school board to not adopt the new guidelines.

“I am very fortunate to know, love, and support several transgender students through my work.” she said. “It is because of these lovely, talented, beautiful, brave teens that I am here today to urge you to reject the proposed model policies. These policies will cause harm to an already vulnerable population of students.”

One Henrico resident, who also spoke at Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “Parents Matter” event at Crestview Elementary Aug. 8, said he was concerned about an “epidemic” of “gender dysphoria” among youth. He did not give his name, but introduced himself as a great-grandfather at the Youngkin event.

“The diagnosis of gender dysphoria has become of epidemic proportions in recent times,” he told the school board. “Experts in the U.S. describe it as social contagion fueled by social media peer pressure and progressive schools.”

The resident urged the school board to remove books from Henrico elementary school libraries and classroom instruction that had “content regarding gender or any age or developmentally inappropriate sexual content.”

“We have 21 elementary school libraries containing books that encourage the grooming of our children aged three and up,” he said. “Some of these books are similar to a teddy bear named Thomas who wants to become Tilly. Removal of books is an arduous process, one at a time, triggering a process of review and committee action for each and every individual complaint.”

Complaints about library materials are reviewed by the Instructional Materials Review Committee, which has 41 members and changes every year. After review, the committee prepares a recommendation to Superintendent Amy Cashwell, who then presents the report to the school board.

The VDOE’s 2022 model policies regarding sexually explicit material allow parents to review instructional material that they believe includes sexually explicit content and requires the school system to provide alternative instructional material based on parent requests.

While Henrico County has not announced its decision on the 2023 model policies, both Fairfax County Public Schools and Virginia Beach Public Schools, among other school divisions, publicly rejected the new policies. Spotsylvania County Public Schools became the first Virginia district to adopt Youngkin’s new guidelines last week.

However, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares issued a statement Aug. 24 declaring that all school divisions in the state are legally required to adopt the policies.

“The model policies comply with the Equal Protection Clause, Title IX, and the Virginia Human Rights Act,” he wrote. “Local school boards are required to adopt policies that are consistent with them.”

Although members of the Henrico School Board did not comment on any of the topics brought up by the speakers, School Board Chair Kristi Kinsella thanked the speakers for showing up to the meeting.

Two Henrico residents also submitted written comments to the school board about Henrico Schools’ new weapons scanners and the issue of student bullying.

HCPS installed weapons detection scanners at several main entrances in all high schools on the first day of school Aug. 21. HCPS officials said they plan to place the scanners in all middle schools and then all elementary schools later in the school year.

“I wanted to take a moment to thank Dr. Cashwell and her team for making the decision to install weapon scanners in our schools,” an anonymous resident said. “I'm sure it was a difficult decision to make, and it will not please everyone especially in today's political climate. However, as a parent of a high-schooler, I feel a sense of relief knowing that our schools are taking the appropriate steps to keep our kids safe.”

Henrico Schools received mixed reactions from the community after delays were caused at some high schools by the new weapons scanners during the first week of school

Another resident, identified only as “RC,” raised concerns about student bullying and violence within Henrico Schools.

“In addition to the weapon scanners, I feel the schools should do a better job at enforcing policies around bullying,” they said. “There needs to be severe consequences starting in elementary school since it seems the violence is often carried out by students who have been bullied. The schools should have a zero tolerance for bullying and start suspending and expelling bullies.”

The school board next will convene for a 1 p.m. work session Sept. 14 at the New Bridge Learning Center Auditorium.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.