VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - — The Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction recently sent superintendents a memo saying school systems need to be following the Department of Education's model policies impacting transgender students.
In the memo, Dr. Lisa Coons said school boards "must comply" with the directive to "be in compliance with state law."
She added that failure to follow the policies means the school boards assume all legal responsibility for non-compliance.
It continued to say the school boards should consider "potential costs of civil litigation" in deciding whether to follow the policies.
Jack Preis, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told News 3 any potential lawsuits could face an uphill battle because people would have to prove they are harmed by not adopting the policies.
"You have to say it's unlawful and the unlawfulness is causing me some particular harm," said Preis. "I think that's going to be the real challenge."
The new policies arose in response to a law passed in 2020, when Democrats had majorities in the General Assembly.
The law called on the Dept. of Education to develop policies related to the treatment of transgender students.
In 2021, the department put out policies saying school staff should address students by names that reflect their gender identity.
Last month, the department, now under the purview of the Youngkin administration, put out updated guidelines saying parents need to consent to their children using a different name or pronoun.
Staff can only refer to students by another name or pronoun if a student or parent submits a request to the school in writing.
"I believe parents must be at the forefront of these discussions. They must be," Youngkin said last month.
On Tuesday night, the Virginia Beach School Board voted 5-5 with one abstention to not adopt the policies, but board members said they would revisit the policies at a later date.
