Students, alumni urge board to protect transgender students during public comment

Two speakers during the board’s public comment period urged the Roanoke County School Board to reconsider or carefully weigh policies affecting transgender students, saying recognition of names and pronouns and access to supportive staff can be life‑saving for vulnerable youth.

Jamie Umberger, introduced as a junior at Glenvar High School, told the board that policies requiring use of a student’s birth-assigned name and gender in school settings “would make you feel like no one sees the real you.” Umberger said the division’s stated nondiscrimination commitments conflict with policies she described as “straight up discriminatory” because they would require use of dead names or restrict gender‑segregated activities to sex assigned at birth unless legal documentation is provided.

“It's about whether everyone in our schools feel safe, respected, and like they belong,” Umberger said, and urged the board to make schools “a place where everyone can be themselves and focus on learning.”

Remi (Remy) Poindexter, an alumnus of William Byrd High School, described a personal experience in which school staff intervened to secure mental‑health care for a friend and said that trusting adults in school can provide life‑saving support when families are not accepting. Poindexter recounted that school counselors helped a friend obtain hospitalization that likely saved that student’s life and urged the board to ensure staff could act to protect LGBTQ students.

No board action on policy was taken during the meeting; public-comment speakers were heard but the board did not vote on a transgender-specific policy at this session. Several board members later reiterated the board’s interest in student safety and the need to follow legal and procedural requirements when handling personnel and student‑privacy matters.