Dear John,

Since the Virginia Department of Education’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students were released in March 2021, we have watched school boards throughout the Commonwealth consider whether to adopt their own policies to align with this guidance. Some have passed trans-affirming policies, some have rejected the VDOE model policies entirely, and many others have fallen somewhere in between.

Over the last 18 months, we have seen advocates on the ground in each school division lead these local efforts to get the VDOE policies passed by spreading the word about their school board’s activity, rallying folks to speak during public comment periods, and encouraging their neighbors to send emails to their board members. The Constitution of Virginia gives local school boards a great deal of autonomy - subsequently, each board operates a bit differently than the next. Often, this has meant that advocates on the ground have had to adapt to unpredictable board procedures, anticipate special called meetings announced with two days’ notice, and navigate outdated and unclear school board websites to gain information.

To help remedy these issues, Equality Virginia set out to collect as much information on each school board as possible, with the eventual goal of presenting it in a central place to aid in reducing barriers to civic participation on the school board level across the state. After over a year of gathering, compiling, and organizing these details, we have achieved that goal and are excited to share our School Board Policy & Meeting Tracker with you today!

Our tracker provides information on local school board meetings, potential agenda items and opportunities for public comment, and whether each school division has adopted the VDOE model policies. Here are a few of those numbers at a glance:

We will be hosting a Lunch & Learn session next Wednesday, September 21st at 12:00 PM to walk through the tracker and answer any questions you might have. If you are interested in learning more about the tracker, the VDOE model policies, and opportunities to jump into local advocacy work, please join us!

Thank you so much for all that you do to support transgender and nonbinary youth in your area and statewide, and we hope that you find the tracker to be a useful tool as you continue your advocacy. As always, if you would like to connect about specific happenings in your local school division, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].

In Solidarity,

Kyleigh Hynes (she/her)
Safe Schools Coordinator

P.S. Since the information in our tracker is manually sourced and updated, there is a possibility for errors to have occurred. If you notice any and would like to bring them to our attention, please contact me using the email address above!

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