School Board declines transgender policy updates for WCPS

The Warren County School Board this week voted against updating anti-discrimination policy updates specific to transgender students during its regular meeting on Wednesday, July 7, but the issue isn’t over despite resounding opposition to the policy updates from numerous Warren County residents.

In an email sent to the Royal Examiner on Thursday night, School Board Vice Chairwoman Catherine Bower explained that the board wants to ensure that all policies meet state and federal law and that they also are in the best interest of WCPS students and staff, as well as the community.

“The decision to not approve these policies… allows us time to review all policies and procedures and to take into account the concerns of students, parents, and community members,” she wrote.

Following almost an hour of comments from roughly 18 speakers during the board’s community participation segment in which they urged members not to accept the policy updates, Bower and School Board members Ralph Rinaldi, Kristen Pence, and James Wells voted 4-0 to decline including the May 2021 Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Policy Updates in the Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) Policy Manual. WCPS staff had recommended approval of the policy updates in Virginia Code Sections 22.1-23.3 regarding the treatment and policies related to transgender students.

Specifically, the code says: “The Department of Education shall develop and make available to each school board model policies concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools that address common issues regarding transgender students in accordance with evidence-based best practices and include information, guidance, procedures, and standards relating to 1. Compliance with applicable nondiscrimination laws; and 6. Protection of student privacy and the confidentiality of sensitive information,” among other provisions.

Item number one calls for Virginia school boards to comply with existing non-discrimination laws by providing transgender students with access to bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. Item number six, according to several speakers, allows schools to be privy to information such as when students self-identify as transgender in school, but deems that information confidential and are not required to alert or notify their parents/guardians.

“That is literally a ploy to pit our children against us as noted in the Communist Manifesto,” said Front Royal speaker Amber Morris, citing item six in Va. Code Sec. 22.1-23.3. “So, I come to you all with compassion and faith that you’ll make the right decision tonight.

“Your duty is to vote according to those who elected you,” said Morris, a mom of three WCPS students and a candidate running in a November special election to fill a vacant seat on the Front Royal Town Council. And she said that policies already adopted by the School Board include “sufficient practices in Warren County that protect these misguided and confused children about which restroom or changing room they desire to use.”

Front Royal resident Melanie Salins agreed, telling School Board members that the existing WCPS policies for transgender students are sufficient, and policy updates are not required and that by voting yes for the updates, the School Board would be “laying the groundwork to force Warren County to follow” the state’s rules.

Front Royal resident Melanie Salins agreed, telling School Board members that the existing WCPS policies for transgender students are sufficient, and policy updates are not required and that by voting yes for the updates, the School Board would be “laying the groundwork to force Warren County to follow” the state’s rules.

“Stand up for what is right, no matter what threats the state makes,” Salins urged the School Board members.

Gary Gillispie of Front Royal, a sitting Front Royal Town Council member who said he was speaking not as an elected official but as a father with a child attending WCPS, stated that he also opposed Va. Code Sec. 22.1-23.3 because “it is not good for our children.”

Gary Gillispie of Front Royal, a sitting Front Royal Town Council member who said he was speaking not as an elected official but as a father with a child attending WCPS, stated that he also opposed Va. Code Sec. 22.1-23.3 because “it is not good for our children.”

“Why turn the cart over for just a few?” Gillispie asked, adding that while there may be repercussions from the state, such as withholding funding, the School Board should consider creating a separate bathroom for transgender students “instead of making all of our children conform to this” policy update.

Another Town official, Matthew Tederick, Business Development Project Manager and Front Royal’s former interim town manager and former interim mayor, also voice opposition to the policy updates.

Another Town official, Matthew Tederick, Business Development Project Manager and Front Royal’s former interim town manager and former interim mayor, also voice opposition to the policy updates.

“The liberal agenda that is being pushed by the federal government and the state government and the VEA [Virginia Education Association] does not belong in Warren County,” which is 72 percent conservative, said Tederick. “It’s time for us to control our own destiny and our own agenda in Warren County. It’s never wrong to do right, and I’m asking you to do right tonight.”

Several speakers also expressed general concerns about students being transgender.

“The evil Democrat-controlled state government run by a racist governor… is requiring you all to bow down to their insanity,” Front Royal resident Mark Egger told School Board members, noting that in his opinion, “human beings do not have a gender; human beings have a sex — either male or female. To pretend otherwise is anti-biology and anti-science. And yet you all are going to vote here tonight to pretend that a boy can be a girl and vice versa.”

Happy Ending
Once the School Board members took up their action agenda items and voted unanimously against including the VSBA policy updates in the WCPS Policy Manual, there were whoops, cheers, hollers, and a standing ovation for them from the audience.

When asked about the legal ramifications and/or funding consequences the board’s decision might have on the school division, Bower answered: “We are unsure at this time. We will have a better understanding once we have had the chance to speak with legal counsel.”

Bower added that WCPS adheres to all state and federal laws, and school boards across Virginia “have until the start of school to ensure that either current policies meet the intent of the law or to adopt new policies.”

“As you may know,” Bower wrote in her email, “boards across the Commonwealth are dealing with many issues related to new laws and guidance. Our board wants to ensure that our policies and procedures meet the needs of our students, parents, and community as a whole.

“Additionally, we were informed by our attorney about pending litigation, and we felt it was prudent to hold off on any vote,” she wrote.

To watch the School Board’s July 7 meeting in its entirety, go online here.