An advocacy group is calling on Arlington school officials to push back on a new state policy on reporting students as either male or female.
On May 12, the Virginia Department of Education’s policy on records collection removed an option to designate some students as “other” rather than male or female.
The Arlington Gender Identity Alliance is arguing that complying with the change would violate Arlington Public Schools’ existing non-discrimination policy and amount to “a cruel form of denial and erasure of the identity of non-binary and gender diverse students.”
“We urge APS to resist both federal and state actions that direct APS to violate its own non-discrimination policy and federal law by whatever means are available, including non-compliance with clearly illegal directives and legal action,” the group wrote in a letter.
“There is no explicit federal requirement [to make the change] — there is none,” a spokesperson from the group said at a School Board meeting on Thursday, pledging that “we will support you and will stand with you.”
After the public comment period concluded, School Board Chair Mary Kadera acknowledged the remarks but, in keeping with the School Board’s custom, made no direct response.
“If there’s follow-up that is required to any of these concerns, we’ll be working with the superintendent and his team to get back to you within the coming week or two,” Kadera said.
In a follow-up, Superintendent Francisco Durán said there is no way for the school system to submit records to the state with an “other” designation for students, the Arlington Gender Identity Alliance told ARLnow.
Founded in 2018, the organization describes itself as a group of parents in Arlington advocating for transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive youth. It is working with other organizations to address issues of mutual concern.
The Action Network, which is coordinating those efforts, has voiced concerns about ongoing actions at the state and federal levels on gender-identity issues:
“We believe that state and federal action will not stop at erasure of non-binary students through data-reporting requirements or exclusion of transgender athletes through discriminatory statewide high school sports policies. Each step taken by the federal government and the state threatens our students and is an affront to our values of equity and inclusion.”
The request made June 12 represents another front in a multi-pronged conflict over who controls decision-making about students.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into Arlington Public Schools’ policies around transgender students.
The inquiry, which followed a complaint filed by America First Legal, centers around bathroom and locker-room access for students.
School divisions in Alexandria, Fairfax County, Loudoun County and Prince William County also are targets of the federal probe. It seeks to determine if the school systems are in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which are part of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Arlington school leaders say they are following all applicable state and federal and state laws.
