Parents and Endowment Project urge Chesterfield board to revise policy on transgender students and to allow $80,000 in grants to high schools

Public comment at the Jan. 15, 2025 Chesterfield County School Board meeting centered on two topics: parents urging changes to the division's transgender-student policies and an outside nonprofit seeking permission to deploy funds raised for Chesterfield high schools.

Michael George, identifying himself as a parent, told the board: "I was mainly asking you to protect our girls, protect them from males in their locker rooms and bathrooms." George said he removed his daughter from the locker room after what he described as a failure by the school to act and urged other parents to file Title IX complaints, saying "It is really easy to do. They have an online form that takes a few minutes to complete." He also told the board he believed a recent federal court ruling in Kentucky undercut the board's prior legal rationale.

Jason Spoon, who identified himself as a Chesterfield County resident, educator and parent, called on the board to amend policy 10-15 and cited a recent federal decision. Spoon said the U.S. District Judge "scrapped the entire 1,500 page regulation" and wrote that the decision "will simply cause a return to the status quo that existed for more than 50 years." He said the ruling presents "an opportunity to go back and fix an error" and urged the board to protect students' access to single-sex spaces.

Chris Basola, co-founder of the Endowment Project, told the board his organization had raised $80,000 earmarked for Chesterfield high schools but that the group's efforts were halted after the board's attorney sent a letter on July 30, 2024 requesting the group discontinue fundraising for Chesterfield schools. Basola said the organization had raised over $1 million in donations and pledges for Virginia public high schools as of the end of 2024 and asked the board to take one of three steps: allow the group to deploy the $80,000 in grants for Chesterfield high schools; allow principals to engage with the group to continue fundraising momentum; or formally decline the grants so donors can be notified.

Basola said principals had been instructed not to engage with the Endowment Project and that the $80,000 the group had in the bank since April of the prior year remained undeployed. The board did not take immediate action on Basola's request; the public record shows a board member said, "We'll be in touch." No formal vote or directive on the Endowment Project's request was recorded during the meeting.

Other speakers during the public comment period raised related concerns about Title IX and student safety. The meeting record does not show the board committing to a policy change during the session; members and staff did not outline a specific timetable for review in response to the speakers' requests.