Newly unsealed documents show the Stafford County School Board’s legal counsel advised against passing protections for transgender students.
It did it anyway, after more than 400 people filled the Board Chambers and, after six hours of public testimony at a Sept. 10, 2019 meeting. The most polarizing additions to the school division’s existing policy that came with the decision now provided protections for “sexual orientation” of students, staff, and faculty, and addressed “gender identity” in the updated policy.
“From a risk standpoint, I recommend that these additions to the nondiscrimination policies not be passed at this time because the law is unsettled in this area, there is no legal mandate to do so, and because the School Board could open itself up too additional liability by voluntarily obligating itself to protected classes or persons not currently required to be protected by state or federal law,” penned Jennifer Lee Parrish, managing partner of the Fredericksburg Parrish, Snead, Franklin, Simpson, PLC.
The School Board asked Parrish for a legal opinion on whether or not it should update the division’s nondiscrimination policy with new protections for transgender students. The decision to pass the policy came after a transgender student was not allowed to use a girls’ or boys’ locker room during an active shooter drill in October 2018.
The story garnered national attention and sparked a debate within the community.
In the letter, part of a larger set of documents unsealed this week by the Stafford School Board, Snead reminds the School Board it can be sued by anyone for alleged discrimination but warned them that passing the transgender polices would be an overreach.
“The question is whether voluntarily passing policies which protect additional classes of individuals no legally mandated creates more legal risk than not passing the policies. I believe it does,” penned Parrish.
We’ve posted the full series of documents to our website for review.
Holly Hazard and Patricia Healy, School Board members for the Hartwood and Rock Hill districts, respectively, both voted against adding the transgender provisions last year. On Tuesday, they pushed to unseal the legal opinion.
In a failed motion, however, Falmouth School Board representative Dr. Sarah Chase motioned to postpone the action. It was seconded by Garrisonville District School Board representative Pamela Yeung, who said newly-elected School Board members who won their seats in November hadn’t had enough time to review the five-month-old legal documents that had been sealed from public view.
“We’re opening up a can of worms… do we want to go down this path?” asked Yeung.
The substitute motion failed, and Healy continued her push.
“The public has questions, and the public hasn’t gotten the answers that we have. I see no reason why we shouldn’t share this with the public,” Healy said.
“It solidifies our commitment to transparency,” added Aquia School Board member Irene Hollerback.
The motion to unseal passed 4-3, with Chase, Yeung, and newly-elected Griffs-Widewater District representative Dr. Elizabeth Warner voting no.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner added that unsealing the documents would “open up old wounds.”
After the vote, he said, “I hope it ends right now. Let’s focus on the children, the budget, other issues.”
The School Board is now expected to begin working on its Fiscal Year 2021 budget, which is due by the end of June.
