After nearly three hours of debate, the FCPS School Board voted 9-3 in favor of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the nondiscrimination guide in the student handbook. Photo by Tim Peterson.
Fairfax County Public Schools are holding off on implementing new regulations regarding transgender and gender nonconforming students.
The delay, a July 19 release said, is in order for the School Board to further evaluate legal issues surrounding the regulations, including a pending case involving another Virginia school district and the Supreme Court. It was announced after the conclusion of a lengthy closed work session Monday July 18.
Board members received the regulations from school system staff at the beginning of July, more than a year after the previous Board voted to add “gender identity” to the FCPS non-discrimination policy (Policy 1450).
The regulations are meant to “establish procedures and guidelines for schools to support gender nonconforming and transgender students that are in-line with the policy and legal requirements.”
“While the regulation is temporarily on hold, Policy 1450 remains in effect and the Board remains committed to this policy of nondiscrimination,” recently elected School Board Chair Sandy Evans said in a statement. “Consistent with the policy and current practice, FCPS continues to accommodate the needs of transgender and gender nonconforming students in a way that protects the dignity and privacy of all students.”
As an add-on motion to the policy change in 2015, that Board decided once regulations were drafted, the current board would review them. The topic was scheduled for a work session on July 21 -- a discussion by the board that would’ve been open to the public but not to live public comment.
With the regulations implementation on hold, they will no longer be discussed in the work session.
The regulations as they stand are available to view online here.
More information is available through the FCPS Office of Communication and Community Relations: 571-423-1200.
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