After room cleared School Board approves transgender policy, restroom study, phased mask use

Following two hours of comments from residents, the Warren County School Board on Wednesday approved the May 2021 Virginia School Board Association (VSBA) Policy Updates, which include anti-discrimination items specific to transgender students. The updates will now be included in the Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) Policy Manual.

The School Board also during its regular August 4 meeting approved a comprehensive study to access the feasibility of providing additional privacy in school restroom facilities, as well as a fall WCPS reopening plan that includes the phased-in use of face masks for staff and students.

Community Participation

Roughly 30 residents spoke to board members about the inclusion of the transgender policy updates in the WCPS Policy Manual. Each had three minutes to speak. Many went over that mark, despite Board Vice Chairwoman Catherine Bower’s instructions to refrain from doing so.

Many in the audience also ignored Bower’s instructions to refrain from applause, interruptions, and other distracting behavior. At the meeting’s roughly two-hour mark, some residents got so unruly that Bower called a board recess, had the Warren County Sheriff’s Department clear the meeting room at the government center, and then proceeded to hold the remainder of the meeting in a session closed to the public.

Following are excerpts from some of the residents’ comments, which may be heard and viewed in their entirety here. The chosen comments generally represent — though not completely — what people said ‘for’ and ‘against’ the board voting to include the transgender policy updates in the WCPS Policy Manual. The comments listed below are in the order they were made during the meeting.

1. The feelings of the majority “should not be put aside for the feelings of the one or two that are not the majority. This is not the time or place… to upset the rule of the majority to give special rights to those having special claims.” Gene McGuirk, Front Royal.

2. “There is a difference between an adult and a child. A child is often governed by emotion, as we can witness often in the tantrums of a 2-year-old or even in the struggles of a teenager. It’s a very interesting development to suspect that the feelings of a child should subjugate the structures of society…. It would be odd for those who are to be the educators to be subjugated to the educated.” John T. English III, a Valley Health physician, Front Royal.

3. “The thing that should primarily be in focus is what is best for the kids in our schools. And what we have proposed is the enshrinement of a radical, progressive ideology that is harmful to children and it isn’t in their best interest, not in the best interest of those who are suffering from this mental condition, and certainly not in the best interest of those who might be lured into it by swimming in the waters that have been set up to promote it — and certainly not for the teachers and the students who would be opposed to this.” Anthony McDonald, Front Royal.

4. “Warren County seems so committed to antiquated, oppressive ideals that it would rather risk legal action than ushering its schools into a safer and more inclusive future. Imagine if we fostered love, compassion, and acceptance in our most formative years inside our school system. Although Warren County seems content to perpetuate the status quo of anti-trans violence, fortunately… the rest of Virginia will keep driving us along as it leaves this hateful era in the dust.” Laura Lee Cascada, organizer, Northern Shenandoah Valley Unites (NSVU).

5. “Trans kids have rights in public schools in the state of Virginia and the Warren County School Board just needs to apply them.” Samuel Porter, Front Royal.

6. “No one wakes up one morning and says, ‘I think I’ll be a different gender today.’ To experience yourself as a gender that doesn’t match your body is not a choice; it is an existential reality. And coming to terms with that is made much more difficult by rejection from families, from churches, from schools. Transgender students using bathrooms with the gender with which they identify is not a risk to other students. It’s the transgender students themselves who are at risk of being bullied, demeaned, ostracized, maybe even physically attacked. If our commitment is to keep all students safe, then we need to deal in facts — not fears, not stereotypes.” Rev. Shea Godwin, deacon, Calvary Episcopal Church, Front Royal.

Once order was restored after the meeting room was cleared, the School Board members resumed their work around 9 p.m., which included approval of the May 2021 VSBA School Board Policy Updates as the second action agenda item. Prior to the 3-2 vote to accept the policy updates, the School Board members explained their rationale for their votes.

For instance, School Board member James Wells, who voted yes along with board members Kristen Pence and Ralph Rinaldi, agreed that the board needed to follow the law and make updates to its current policies. Rinaldi agreed, saying his concern “was of a legal stature” and he didn’t want to see the board get bogged down with potential lawsuits.

Among several reasons for voting no, Board Vice Chairwoman Bower and board member Melanie Salins explained that they would first like to see the results of a study on WCPS restroom facilities (see below). Bower also said she had read through the County’s existing policies multiple times and found them to be sufficient, while Salins also voiced concerns that the updates infringed upon parental rights.

Restrooms Study

The School Board also approved the first action agenda item, which was presented to the board by WCPS Assistant Superintendent for Administration George “Buck” Smith, Jr., who recommended a comprehensive study be conducted that will access the feasibility of providing additional privacy in school restroom facilities, including whether to provide stalls on all urinals and to identify single-user or gender-inclusive facilities, or other reasonable alternatives for any student who seeks privacy.

“I asked for this item to be on the agenda so I would like to make a few comments,” Bower said prior to the board’s vote.

During the past few months, Bower said there have been discussions, public comments, emails, and phone calls related to transgender students in school restrooms. “We have had transgender students in our schools for many years,” she read from a prepared statement. “In the past, if a transgender student was uncomfortable using the restroom that aligned with their biological sex, they were offered the use of a single-stall restroom in the nurse’s office or in the counselor’s office. There had never been an issue.”

However, Virginia law now states that transgender students may use the restroom of their choice, said Bower. “We will absolutely abide by the law,” she said, even if “this may not be acceptable to all students.”

Bower said that she thinks the only equitable solution for all that doesn’t discriminate against anyone is to remodel WCPS restrooms into single-stall or unisex restrooms.

“I think a comprehensive study is needed to assess the restroom needs of our students so that everyone feels comfortable, both physically and emotionally,” said Bower, who added that a preliminary evaluation of single-stall restrooms in WCPS middle and high schools is already underway. However, the restrooms in WCPS elementary schools also will require remodeling “so that they are acceptable,” she added.

Some of the items Bower thinks the study should investigate include determining whether all or just a few restrooms need to be remodeled; where unisex restrooms would be most needed; the costs to remodel and where the remodeling funds would come from; and the length of time needed to complete remodeling and whether a temporary fix would be required in the meantime, among other questions.

“This is a state law that we’re adhering to, and I doubt that the state is going to fund this,” Bower said. “It would be nice, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

The approved study will be conducted by the WCPS Director of Facilities and Assistant Superintendent for Administration, but Bower said she would also like to see the study team include a school administrator, a teacher or two, a School Board member, and a community member. Rinaldi volunteered to join the team on behalf of the School Board.
Following some discussion by board members and WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger, Wells made a motion to accept the study with a second made by Pence. The board voted 5-0 to approve the study.

Reopening Plan

With the fall start date for classes slated for August 17, the School Board also approved a WCPS COVID-19 Mitigation Health Plan entitled “2021 Leading the Rebound,” which emphasizes the implementation of layered prevention strategies “to protect people who are not fully vaccinated,” according to the plan.

Ballenger and WCPS Director of Special Services Michael Hirsch said that the health mitigation strategies in the plan vary in two main areas: distancing requirements and the use of face coverings.

For example, a tiered, or phased, response will be used to address the health and safety needs of WCPS students and staff. According to the plan, medical-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) has been acquired for health services staff. N95 masks, shields, gowns, and gloves will be provided to WCPS nurses and assistants who are supporting them. Face shields will be available, in addition to additional masks, upon request.

“Face coverings are an important part of our mitigation strategies in keeping our students and staff safe against COVID-19,” the plan states. “Face covering procedures will be discussed in each phase of our plan to reopen. All visitors (very limited number) will wear face coverings when entering and occupying any school building.”

During phase one of the reopening plan, face coverings will be “strongly encouraged” for all employees and students. “However, it is parent choice” whether their child wears one to school. Face coverings will not be required to be worn outdoors.

During phase two of the plan, face coverings will be required for all students and staff when indoors and on school buses.

During phase three, face coverings will be required for all students and staff indoors and outdoors and there will be increased social distancing.

Ballenger noted that movement between the phases will be based on metrics and data. He pointed out that changing between phases “could happen before school starts. We want to stay in phase one,” he said. “We need the community’s help. Everyone has COVID fatigue, but we still need to work as a community as a whole.”

Likewise, as the “2021 Leading the Rebound” plan permits in-person instruction for all students, WCPS will strive to educate students in this manner as health conditions permit, Ballenger said, noting that such a fluid approach will allow WCPS to maximize in-person instruction supported by a robust virtual academy and social-emotional supports.

Additionally, according to the plan, significant resources have been allocated to support the division’s Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Initiative. The current SEL teacher will be collaborating with school social workers and trauma coaches to ensure staff and students are supported.

In addition, Student Support Coaches have been allocated for each school to further support academic remediation and students’ social/emotional needs. This support includes linkage to community-based mental health supports that currently partner with WCPS, as well as direct support to students and staff.

Outpatient counselors also will be available in each middle and high school to meet the additional mental health challenges the pandemic has created, the plan says, and private Insurance, as well as Medicaid, may be used to access these supports.

A motion to accept the plan as presented was made by board member Pence, with a second by Rinaldi. The motion carried on a 4-1 vote with Salins voting no.

To watch the School Board’s August 4 meeting in its entirety, go here.