Parents/Guardians,
As you know, the School Board is contemplating revisions to its nondiscrimination policies. Over the past several weeks, the Board has received several questions pertaining to these potential revisions. In an effort to better understand and inform our parents, the Board has created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document which you will find below.
The Augusta County School Board supports a school environment free of discrimination and
harassment. The Board is committed to policies and practices that create a secure, safe, and supportive environment where all students have the opportunity to learn and grow academically and emotionally. Not all of our students are the same and the individual needs of students differ. Educators are charged with an obligation to understand student differences and develop educational approaches that recognize students learn differently and that students have different emotional needs. The Board’s educational philosophy of helping all students succeed existed before the current public debate over the treatment of transgender students and it will continue to be the philosophy of the Board whether it adopts new, additional policies or whether it continues to rely on longstanding existing policies.
Transgender students are educated in public schools throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. For many years, Augusta County school administration has worked collaboratively with transgender students and their parents to provide those students with a supportive and nurturing environment free of discrimination and harassment. This commitment is a consistent thread in the fabric of our schools: no student regardless of sex should feel threatened, marginalized, or stigmatized. Public educators accept all students, regardless of differences, and work tirelessly to make all students feel loved and valued as members of our community with the potential to live fully realized lives as contributing and healthy members of our society.