(credit to Alex Koma)
After more than five hours of public comments, the Prince William County School Board decided to delay a decision on whether to outlaw discrimination on sexual orientation or gender identity, as the Wednesday evening meeting dragged into Thursday morning.
The board was set to vote on a policy to outlaw sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination “in the provision of educational programs, services, and activities.” The policy currently bans discrimination based on race, sex and religion.
The board ultimately voted for more time to consider the policy, delaying the vote until June 2017 by a vote of 5-1. Only Chairman Ryan Sawyers opposed a motion to delay the vote, while Loree Williams of the Woodbridge District abstained.
Sawyers edited the policy to direct schools’ Superintendent Steven L. Walts to preserve existing standards for bathrooms and locker rooms, leaving room to comply with court decisions on the issue. The majority of the board still felt suitably concerned about the prospect of future legal action to delay a vote on the policy.
While several people spoke in favor of the change, dozens more spoke at the meeting to oppose the policy alteration, claiming the policy lacks language outlining how it would be implemented and charging that it could violate the privacy of students in bathrooms and locker rooms. Many others argued that holding a vote on the subject was inappropriate without a representative from the Brentsville District . Gil Trenum was called to serve in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Later in the meeting, the board appointed Shawn Brann as an interim replacement.
But LGBTQ proponents pushed back on those privacy claims, noting that the policy change would give schools a necessary tool to combat bullying against a vulnerable group of students.
Does the LGBTQ community seriously think a school board policy is going to give schools the necessary tools to “combat bullying?” Don’t make me laugh. There have been anti-bullying programs in place in PWCS for over a decade. The bullying has only gotten worse.
The majority of the people who spoke at what seemed like an endless meeting also showed their bias and frankly bigoted attitudes about “LGBTness” in general. Some made valid points. Others showed their very transparent prejudice. Some showed appalling ignorance.
I have mixed feelings on the entire issue before the school board. I thought Chairman Sawyers’ attempt at policy change to vanquish LGBT discrimination was political and ill-timed. Most of us are tired of hearing about bathroom issues. Its a volatile issue and guaranteed to polarize people of all political persuasions. Most importantly, was there a bathroom issue in the county? If there was, it was not public knowledge.
Sawyers should have let sleeping dogs lie. We don’t need the publicity or the expense. Other jurisdictions have already stuck their respective jurisdictional necks in the noose. Let’s give it some time and see how the Virginia Supreme Court rules. We have far too many other issues in PWC to be trailblazers on this particular LGBT issue. Our school board needs to concentrate on increasing teacher pay and reducing class size. Our school board needs to ensure that each student (according to its own policy) has a textbook in each core subject area rather than the trashy, cheap-skate classroom set of texts that do nothing more than gather dust.
I wish just one of the 8 school board members would return my call on this textbook issue. No one has in a year. Chairman Stewart has my cell phone number if any of the school board members are brave enough to discuss with me why their own policies aren’t being followed. He has my permission to share that number. Mrs. Satterwhite also has it, if she hasn’t lost it.
First things first, school board. You are there to educate kids, not to forge new social policy. The social efforts are just bright, shiny objects put out there to distract the public from some woefully sorry educational situations here in the county.
Addendum:
For the record, I don’t want LGBT students discriminated against or bullied. I just think that this kerfluffle over whatever is simply a distraction and really has nothing to do with protecting the rights of all students. It’s just a political game.
Further reading at Bristowbeat.com
Well Moon, after more than five hours of public comment the School Board managed to take care of two pieces of School Board business, the Brentsville appointment and tabling the transgender policy change. Everything else was deferred to the next meeting including items deferred from the previous meeting. Thus, some staff presentations at the next meeting will be two months old.
This edition of the School Board may well be the most disfunctional elected body in the history of the Commonwealth. Congratulations to all who elected Chairman Peanuts to office, you directly contributed to the diminishing quality of the education provided to the county students.
@Mom
I have actually seen several school boards more dysfunctional than this one. The 4 horsemen leap to my mind. Then there was that red sports car who called all the shots at SJHS…..
I agree with Moon-howler. The previous board put swimming pools in a school, sent resolutions on Medicaid and Common Core to Richmond and let class sizes grow. You only hear about this board’s problems because the right wing bloggers and political opponents drag out the meetings and blame the Chairman.
Maybe they will adopt the proposals to shorten the meetings that were shared during citizen comment time.
@Moon-howler
I sure am not giving this one a full endorsement by any stretch but there have been some pretty bad ones heretofore.
No problem. Nobody’s perfect and no meeting should go for seven hours. We have to wait and see if they learn from their mistakes. They got their chance because the last board screwed up, but now they have the responsibility to govern effectively.
@MoonHowler
Do you remember that 13 hour meeting in 2007 over immigration? That was just horrible. That school board meeting reminded me a great deal of the anti-immigration meeting. I think it was Oct. 12, 2007.
What was painful to me was listening to people spread their ignorance about transgendered people. I am not sure now what the resolution is that they want to pass, now that bathrooms and lockers are off the table. I can’t keep track of it all, in the midst of so much misinformation.
Will someone enlighten me?
@Robin Hood
LOL. RH, you’re usually a better observer than this. Most of Sawyers’ wounds are self-inflicted. Faced with cost issues, overcrowding, and declining results, Sawyers opened up a new political front with no concrete plan. And then the recall flap. He’s over his head. Doesn’t mean the other choice would have done better, but Sawyers is not a serious leader.
Now don’t forget that half of this board is in their first term and half of the rest were elected to fill vacancies that occurred between the 2011 and 2015 elections. The most experienced member is on reserve duty. We should be more interested in fixing problems than laying blame.
@NorthofNokesville
@Robin Hood
Sometimes the people ARE the source of the problems. Earnest trying… let’s encourage it. Doubling down on stumbling? Negative feedback is in order.
I think Robin Hood makes an excellent point. They are fairly green. Some of them have jumped in deep water over their heads. I hope they have learned.
They got off on the wrong footing with me over cutting that school deal in the middle of the night. Then they piled on by insulting most of the adults I knew while growing up.
I absolutely hate when young pups try to set me straight, especially when they come down to the south to fix the error of our ways. (yes, that was said)
Detente is sorely needed,
Actually I would like to never have to think about the school board. Alas, that is just not to be, I fear.
@MoonHowler
Everyone should have a say on School Board decisions, because it impacts our entire community. Good schools bring families, but great schools bring development opportunities and more. Not to mention that over 51% of our tax dollars go into the school division.
I think about 500 + had their say. It seemed endless.
— I thought Chairman Sawyers’ attempt at policy change to vanquish LGBT discrimination was political and ill-timed.
When is the right time?
— Most of us are tired of hearing about bathroom issues.
Me too. You do understand that what Chairman Sawyers proposed was NOT a bathroom bill? He proposed adding 5 words: “sexual orientation and gender identity” to the Nondiscrimination Policy. Should he have included the clarifying language concerning not changing regulations until after the courts ruled? Absolutely. Should he have done it earlier? You bet your sweet bippy.
Why is adding 5 little words to the nondiscrimination policy so important? Right now, a PWCS employee can be fired simply for being gay. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, FIRED. Because of who he/she is. It’s legal to get a marriage license, it’s legal to get married, but G-d forbid PWCS finds out! Likewise, a principal can choose to not hire someone simply for that same reason. Period. And then there are the students. Kids growing up have raging hormones and confusion about who they are whether they are straight or LGBT. You know that’s true; we’ve all experienced it. LGBT students have that extra complication of thinking there’s something seriously wrong with them simply because society doesn’t see the need to accept them. Suicide rates for LGBT teens is 4 times that of straight students. Don’t you think five little words (which only cost the electrons to change the policy) is worth the reassurance we can provide to a child?
— Most importantly, was there a bathroom issue in the county?
As I said above, it’s NOT a bathroom bill. Besides, members of the LGBT community, including the “dreaded transgenders” are using your bathrooms every day already! And students haven’t been required to use showers for ages.
— If there was, it was not public knowledge.
Absence of evidence does not mean absence of existence. You can’t prove a negative.
— Sawyers should have let sleeping dogs lie. We don’t need the publicity or the expense. Other jurisdictions have already stuck their respective jurisdictional necks in the noose.
I’m sorry, Moon, I like you and really enjoy reading your blog, but you’re wrong. The quote above could just as easily been made during Massive Resistance.
— Let’s give it some time and see how the Virginia Supreme Court rules.
Agreed, which is why Chairman Sawyers’ amended modification was actually ideal. Tell the world you won’t discriminate against LGBT and wait for the courts to rule to see what implementation of the “bathroom issue” looks like.
— We have far too many other issues in PWC to be trailblazers on this particular LGBT issue.
“This particular LGBT issue”? You mean equality? Seriously? It’s not a bathroom bill. Equality is the ideal our country was founded on. It’s not an “issue”.
— Our school board needs to concentrate on increasing teacher pay and reducing class size. Our school board needs to ensure that each student (according to its own policy) has a textbook in each core subject area rather than the trashy, cheap-skate classroom set of texts that do nothing more than gather dust.
Completely agree!
— First things first, school board. You are there to educate kids, not to forge new social policy. The social efforts are just bright, shiny objects put out there to distract the public from some woefully sorry educational situations here in the county.
We disagree here, Moon. What Chairman Sawyers was trying to do was not “forging new social policy”, but actually acknowledging a vulnerable sector of our society and telling them that they count too. Countless colleges, universities, and businesses have already gone down this path and stated they won’t discriminate against the LGBT community.
— For the record, I don’t want LGBT students discriminated against or bullied. I just think that this kerfluffle over whatever is simply a distraction and really has nothing to do with protecting the rights of all students. It’s just a political game.
That teenager who is conteplating self harm or worse because of bullying experienced as a result of his/her LGBT status doesn’t believe “it’s just a political game”. For that student, it could be a question of life or death.
—————————————————————
Responding to your 9/22/2016 @10:56 PM comment:
— I am not sure now what the resolution is that they want to pass, now that bathrooms and lockers are off the table. I can’t keep track of it all, in the midst of so much misinformation.
— Will someone enlighten me?
The resolution proposed by Chairman Sawyers was to protect teachers, staff, and students from discrimination based on LGBT status: “sexual orientation and gender identity”. I’ve written about it above, so if you have further questions, fire away.
BTW, they are “transgender people”, not “transgendered people”: it’s not something that happened to them, it’s who they are. Also, please keep in mind that transgender is only one of the four letters; lesbian, gay, bisexual are the other three. The right focuses on transgender because they’re “scary” and it’s easy to manipulate a crowd and motivate them to go to a school board meeting and spew hate and fear.
OK, confused. I think you are hanging me as a Brentsville Republican, rather than a person who just isn’t toeing the party line.
When is the best time? Clearly after hearing the wealth of ignorance I heard from the school board meeting, not now. People have had their fears all stirred up. The school board did not do its job in educating the people of PWC about what it was really trying to do.
If I am not mistaken, there was a lot more to the regulation than there is now. Sawyers pulled in his horns on some of the issues after the rather serious blow-back, especially from the clergy.
Now, I am going to get on my high-horse, as you have, Confused. I tried to carry this post via cell phone because I lost internet, landline and TV for most of the past 24 hours. If I mistyped or put an ED on transgender…oh well, ex-effen-cuse me. I have worked with the LGBT community for the past 25 years, off and on. I have taught transgender students as well and all the other alphabet symbols.
Here is the problem with some of the democrats right now. You are beating people over the head with your ideas. You have to sell your ideas, not pound people with them. You assume I am some rube on this subject. I have probably clocked more field hours on LGBT issues than most people on this blog and over a longer period of time. I have been to local organization activities, I have been to PFLAG demonstrations as well as equal rights marches. I have been to gay bars with friends. I just don’t need an effen lecture on my sensibilities.
I dont agree with you. That is my right. I have some serious concerns about the way this latest initiative was handled.
I am all in favor of including sexual orientation being a part of a protected class of people. I am fairly sure you are wrong about people being fired because they are gay. That is just pure old bullshit. I worked for the county for many years. I knew plenty of gay and lesbian people, many of the quite open. They weren’t fired. That’s just preposterous.
I continue to believe this issue was politically motivated rather than being about protections for LGBT students and staff.
Please explain to me what has been done to educate the community? Not much. Otherwise they wouldn’t have all come out with pitchforks and torches to keep their little girls from marauding gangs of transgender B –> Gs who are out to rob them of their virtue.
The regulation changed. Period. When did it change? That’s my question.
@MoonHowler
Moon, you are 100% right. The manner in which this was done was moronic. Personally, professionally, and familially, I am connected with folks who happen to be LGBT. There is NOT unanimity on the practical aspects of this issue inside that community, and many are begging allies (many self-annointed) to take a measured approach. Clumsy, bumbling efforts at change hurt those who need it LEAST. School age is tough enough for a typical hetero kid, and teen suicide rates for LGB (G in particular) show it’s worse for them. T… I can’t even imagine. But trusted friends in that community tell me that there’s something of a stable equilibrium right now, and its not obvious that high-profile battles and litigation help at all. Wading in without prep or plan is not helping. Apologies for the caps. This one gets to me.
It does to me too, North. You hit upon something I think it very strategic when talking about equal rights for LGBT community–high profile battles. I will never forget, after the 92 Republican convention, there has been a lot of anti gay rhetoric. A friend and I went to a Pflag demonstration in front of the White House. A bunch of young radical, outrageously behaved gays joined us. They brought hookers to the protest. I left. Anything I participate in, I want to send a good message and to have a positive outcome. This behavior did nothing but send a horrible message to those not in the LGBT community. It hurt their cause. It confirmed all sorts of superstitions and myths and fears.
Do no harm.
The parents of PWC kids needed to be sold on the idea of protecting people in the LGBT community in our county. They weren’t. (eyes rolling)
Think, school board members, think!!! There are going to be a whole lot of people out there stirring the pot and making parents think that their children are in danger, when in essence, they aren’t. Don’t leave yourselves open like that.
@MoonHowler
Ok, you clearly didn’t ask for my input and didn’t want it. You got angry at my response. It’s your blog, I’ll go back to reading only. My mistake.
I wanted input, just not a lecture. Cut me a break, I had just listened to hours and hours of that damn school board meeting. I don’t think you heard what I was trying to say.
I stand by the timing sucking.
BTW, the transgender people I have known have been not scary and probably the least sexually aggressive people I have ever met. I havent known many.
I dont think that crowd needed to be manipulated. They seemed ready to go.
Lastly, all the rules in the world can be made and that isn’t going to stop the bullying. I am all in favor of sexual orientation being named as a protected class. Why would anyone assume I am not?
@Confused
“You do understand that what Chairman Sawyers proposed was NOT a bathroom bill? He proposed adding 5 words: “sexual orientation and gender identity” to the Nondiscrimination Policy.”
Practical implications matter. Unless he lives under a rock, Sawyers knows this issue almost always leads to a bathroom battle. Happens here in Virginia, and elsewhere. It’s in the courts. The Obama administration issued guidelines. None of this happens in a vacuum. And that was ALL foreseeable.
Practical implications matter, part two. Schools already lack space and money. Sawyers knows this. It’s his job. Thoughts around practical and financial impact? None I heard. Again, totally foreseeable.
Part of leadership is change management and selling. Sawyers failed and failed hard on both counts, with the public at large and with his liberal/Democrat core. Whatever his good intentions, he’s became Exhibit A for “how not to do things” across the school funding, school performance, and LGBT issues, as well as the recall fiasco. Sure, there are a lot of issues he inherited… but he’s made himself an issue to the point he’s squandered any opportunity for patience or understanding. And he’s generated little more than collateral damage for kids, parents, political allies, and now the LGBTQ folks he supposedly wants to help.
Now he’s got to make a choice: either suck it up, take his lumps, and grow up a bit (Bill Clinton model post-94 elections); or burrow in and keep slinging mud. I know what I want.
Actually what he did propose originally did address bathrooms and lockers from what I understand. Then he pulled back a bit and just stuck to the non-discrimination angle.
I don’t like politicians trying to out liberal or out conservative each other. I tend to like things a little more goal directed.
If another jurisdiction like Gloucester county and Fairfax county want to be the trailblazers, have at it. Lawyers aren’t cheap.
Basically, I like people to be prudent. Why pick up a hot potato when someone else is already holding it?
@MoonHowler
Agree – concrete outcomes. Sawyers was short on upfront selling and on practical detail, and this issue screams for “what’s going to change?” The school funding and crowding challenges just add fuel to the fire.
Sawyers day job is in business. Not sure the last time “This is going to cost money and make people mad and maybe create risk but I can’t tell you exactly what it means” was a good pitch.
http://potomaclocal.com/2016/09/19/sawyers-motion-prince-william-superintendent-regulations-bathroom-locker-room/
I knew I hadn’t imagined this change.
I didn’t dream up the bathroom issue. Good. I am not losing my mind.