Day After Swastika-Shaped-Logo Controversy, Hanover School Board to Consider Policy Requiring Extensive Background Check for a Transgender Student to Use the Bathroom

Here we go again with the Hanover County School Board…the same folks who previously did the following: UPDATED: Superintendent Apologizes] Swastika-Style Logo on (Deep-“Red”) Hanover County, VA Schools T-Shirt; Youngkin Sign in Classroom. WTF Is Going On?;  Right-Wing-Dominated Hanover County School Board Bans Student Walkouts, Nearly Bans Book on Police Killings of Black People (Because, Supposedly, “That Only Happens in the Inner Cities”); Process for Appointing New Hanover School Board Member Violated US Constitution By Requiring That They Be a Conservative Christian, Commit to Breaking Virginia Law and Engaging in Discrimination; Hanover County High School Senior Ethan Lynne Urges: “Please pay attention to the far-right takeover happening in my own county”; Hard-Right Virginia Delegate Claims Hanover County, Which He Represents, “Caved to the Pressure of Anarchists” in Voting to Rename Confederate Schools; His Republican Predecessor Rips Him; etc.

The Hanover County School Board will consider a proposal that would require transgender students to make a formal request to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities and give the board final authority to approve or deny them.

…The agenda for next week’s school board meeting shows the proposed policy that will be introduced. Under the proposal, transgender students and their parents or guardians would have to submit written requests to the school’s principal to use the restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms that align with their gender identity.

See below for more and also click here for the Hanover School Board agenda item, “Review of Proposed New Policy Regarding Restroom and Locker Room Access,” which reads:

A student, along with their parent or guardian, must submit a written request to the principal of the school where the student attends. School administration will receive all relevant information, which may include:

• • • a statement from the student that, among other things, specifies their gender identity and how they have consistently, persistently and insistently expressed that identity;
    • signed statements from the student’s personal physician, therapist or licensed counselor verifying that the student has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and/or that the student consistently and authentically expresses a binary gender identity;
    • statements from the student’s parent or guardian;
    • student disciplinary or criminal records;
    • information related to the privacy and safety of other students; and
    • any other relevant information, including documents from other interested parties.

As former Hanover public schools student Ethan Lynne puts it:

“Ultra right-wing Hanover County School Board in VA has released a new policy on trans students, requiring trans students to undergo a criminal background check and leaving the final decision on what bathrooms they can use to the school board. This is the same county that had a scandal yesterday for a swastika shaped logo”

This, of course, is what happens when you put right wingers in charge.