Virginia Beach students urge school board to reject trans policies

First Colonial High School senior Jacob Cruz was worried when he saw the state’s proposed transgender policies — which requires parental consent for students to use their preferred names and pronouns in school — and how it would impact classmates who hadn’t come out to their families yet.

“I was really concerned because I have a lot of friends who would be affected by this, and I was even more concerned by the fact that no one was really doing much about it,” Cruz said after speaking for the first time at a Virginia Beach School Board meeting in September.

He wasn’t alone. A handful of other students joined him in that meeting to express their concern over the policy. Even more classmates showed up at the next meeting to speak out against the proposed policies.

That number swelled to nearly two dozen students in the most recent school board meeting Tuesday, all urging the school board to reject the policies.

Their concern is that these policies could take away the only safe and supportive space some closeted students have. Many shared testimonies from their transgender and nonbinary peers who are afraid of what would happen if they were forced to either be “outed” or hide their personal identities.

“Why should we have to wait for the negatives to get rid of them?” Icarus Landaker, a Princess Anne High School senior, asked Tuesday.

All of this comes before the Virginia Beach School Board — or any school board — has had a chance to begin discussing if and how it plans to adopt the state’s model policies. No clear timeline has come down from the state for when the policies will be finalized. School board attorney Kamala Lannetti said without final guidance from the Department of Education, the school division is “kind of trapped.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration released the Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for all Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools last fall. Citing parents’ “fundamental rights,” these policies would require parental approval for any changes to students’ names, nicknames and pronouns, and require parental notification and permission for counseling services “pertaining to gender.”

The model policies also states that individuals such as teachers and other staff members cannot be forced to address students by their preferred names or pronouns if doing so goes against the staff member’s personal or religious beliefs.

A public comment period on the policies opened in September for 30 days. Over that time, more than 71,000 comments were submitted. As the Virginia Department of Education reviews them, action on the policies is on hold. It has sometimes taken the education department several months to get through public comments.

Once the state superintendent finalizes the policies, they would replace those of Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration and effectively reverse the state’s stance on the matter.

However, Lannetti said there are no penalties if a school division opts to not adopt the model policy and maintains its own. But this could change with future revisions.

The students speaking out Tuesday said they want to be proactive. More students are joining the group chat to go over each other’s speeches and “lay out basic ground rules,” First Colonial senior Alex Elstrodt said.

“We’re not going to attack anything too political or too partisan,” Elstrodt said. “We’re going to focus on being respectful to the board.”

With this in mind, the students are focusing on issues related to respecting students’ preferred names and pronouns, and transgender students’ access to counseling services.

Elstrodt said he, Cruz and another speaker, First Colonial senior Emily LaBar, spoke with a few of the school board members about the model policies in an effort to keep politics out of the discussions.

“I think parents’ rights are important, but it’s also equally important to protect the student, to protect the individual from danger,” LaBar said.

Some students started criticizing the model policies shortly after they came out in September. There was a statewide protest that month in which students walked out of schools. But some adults are pushing back, prioritizing parental rights over those of students.

Board Member Michael Callan spoke during public comment at a Dec. 13 meeting in support of the policies. Callan was elected at that point, but had not yet been seated. He said he was “impressed” by the students for their research and the delivery their comments, but felt the board had yet to hear differing perspectives.

“Is there ever a time when information of a significant nature is allowed to be intentionally withheld by the school system from a parent or legal guardian?” Callan asked.

He acknowledged there are parents “whose parenting skills leave a lot to be desired,” but it is ultimately up to the them, and not the state, to determine what is best for their children.

One speaker, Brenda Pence, said Tuesday that parents are “trusting the school board to get their back,” adding that it is up to the parents to guide their children through potentially life changing decisions.

Other community members came in support of the students. Virginia Beach teacher Anthony Nobles told the board he has seen a “broad consensus” for more inclusivity and acceptance among students.

Callan and other board members say they continue to listen to the concerns and testimonies, even if there is no clear timeline for when final guidance will come from the state. The students promise that they are in it for the long haul.

“Until these policies go away, we will stay,” Elstrodt said.

Kelsey Kendall, kelsey.kendall@virginiamedia.com