Governor Youngkin of Virginia refuses to let parents be excluded. Youngkin’s Model Policies of 2022 will bring parents more into the fold regarding the education of their children. His policies also state that sports that are separated by sex will be separated by biological sex.
Students in some of the largest school districts walked out on Tuesday in protest of these new policies.
Youngkin’s 2022 Model Policies define the word “sex” as biological sex, and the phrase “transgender students” means “a public school student whose parent has requested in writing, due to their child’s persistent and sincere belief that his or her gender differs with his or her sex, that their child be so identified while at school.” The draft policies, the governor explained, would maintain that if parents authorize a change in a student’s name, pronoun, or bathroom use, “accommodations will be made for that student.” It would also state that sports that are separated by sex will be separated by biological sex.
“Biological boys shouldn’t be playing sports with biological girls,” Youngkin said. “It’s just not fair.”
“The guidelines make it clear that when parents are part of the process, schools will accommodate the requests of children and their families,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter said in a statement to Fox News Digital regarding the walkouts. “Parents should be a part of their children’s lives, and it’s apparent through the public protests and on-camera interviews that those objecting to the guidance already have their parents as part of that conversation. While students exercise their free speech today, we’d note that these policies state that students should be treated with compassion and schools should be free from bullying and harassment.”
Emphasizing the policies’ impact on parents, Youngkin said that his predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam, D., issued policies that “excluded parents.” His draft policies, the governor said, are not meant to shut out trusted teachers or advisers, but to ensure parents are the primary decision-makers.
“The children don’t belong to the state,” the Governor said. “They belong to families.”
