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Community members press board to broaden protections for transgender students and revise Procedure JBP
Summary
During public comment, multiple speakers urged the board to revise Procedure JBP so it recognizes self‑identified transgender students, allows staff to use preferred names/pronouns and preserves confidentiality between students and adults; several offered written proposed revisions.
Several community members used the board’s public comment period Dec. 17 to urge revisions to Procedure JBP, which they say currently uses a narrow definition of transgender student and limits staff support.
Reverend Natalie Chamberlain, who identified herself as a pastor and long‑time meeting attendee, told the board she found it “ironic” that some members cite Christian faith but didn’t act to protect vulnerable students. "I'm asking why, since you've claimed a religious faith, you're not protecting the Strand students in your care," she said.
Jackie Batterson and other speakers highlighted national trends affecting LGBTQIA+ youth and cited research on suicide risk reduction with adult acceptance. Batterson read a poem dedicated to LGBTQIA+ students and staff and said the school system need not participate in the “travesty” she sees unfolding at other levels of government.
Several commenters (including Jim Patterson and Reverend Michael Burnett) presented redlined proposals for Procedure JBP or urged specific deletions and additions. Patterson and Burnett urged restoring language to allow staff to refer to students by names and pronouns they prefer and to clarify that teachers are not required to report every conversation with a student to parents. "I've taken the liberty of... doctoring up the procedure," Patterson said, offering a version he asked the board to consider.
Tidewater DSA co‑chair Gabriel Marquez and other advocates asked the board to prioritize changes and called the present policy an unfair targeting of trans students. "What we have right now in our schools is a system of segregation..." Marquez said.
Board members did not take immediate action on Procedure JBP during the meeting; several speakers encouraged the board to consider specific, written changes and to act promptly because each month without revision, they said, means another month of harm for students. The board acknowledged hearing the comments; policy committee follow‑up and staff analysis were requested in the meeting discussion.
