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LGBTQ students join protests over new Fairfax County school superintendent

Critics say incoming official lacks experience leading large, diverse district

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Some Fairfax students and advocacy groups object to the new superintendent.

The Fairfax County, Va., School Board voted 9 to 3 on April 14 to approve the appointment of a new school superintendent for the county school system after more than 200 students, including members of an LGBTQ student group, held demonstrations against the appointment at several high schools earlier in the day.

After a months-long search process, the School Board selected Michelle Reid, the current superintendent of the Northshore School District in Bothell, Wash., a small city located within the Seattle metropolitan area, to replace current Fairfax School Superintendent Scott Brabrand, who is stepping down effective June 30.

The student protesters have joined other community and advocacy groups, including the Fairfax chapter of the NAACP, in expressing concern that Reidā€™s experience in leading a relatively small school district with about 22,000 students is insufficient to head the Fairfax school system, which enrolls about 180,000 students who come from more diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

School officials and members of the School Board who voted for Reidā€™s appointment said they were impressed with the knowledge, understanding, and staunch support Reid expressed for policies embracing and supporting a racially diverse school system such as Fairfax County Public Schools.

Reid, a former school principal who holds a doctorate degree in educational leadership, expressed strong support for the needs of LGBTQ and other minority students during her interview process, according to gay Fairfax School Board member Karl Frisch, who voted in favor of Reidā€™s appointment.

ā€œThroughout all of our interviews with her, Dr. Reid routinely spoke ā€“ unprompted ā€“ of the ways she addressed the equity needs of her study body ā€“ LGBTQIA students, Muslim students, students of color, English language learners, students with special needs, and more,ā€ Frisch said during the April 14 School Board meeting.

ā€œHer commitment to equity and inclusion was a thread woven through her answers, her accomplishments as a superintendent, and her commitments to this Board,ā€ Frisch said. 

Information on the Northshore School District website shows that the district adopted a strongly worded nondiscrimination policy protecting transgender and gender nonconforming students in 2017 during Reidā€™s tenure as superintendent. Fairfax County Public Schools adopted a similar policy on gender identity nondiscrimination in 2021.

The school system in previous years adopted polices banning discrimination against students, teachers, and other employees based on sexual orientation, which Reid strongly upheld, according to her supporters.

Although the Northshore School District adopted a strongly worded policy banning bullying and harassment of all students, including LGBTQ students, in 2011, new guidelines for updating and enforcing the anti-bullying policies were updated in 2020 under Reid, who began her tenure as Northshore superintendent in 2016.

Aaryan Rawal, a spokesperson for Pride Liberation Project, the LGBTQ student group that helped organize the student protests over the Reid appointment, told the Washington Blade one day before the protests that the Pride group was not aware of any actions taken by Reid against the LGBTQ students, but the group was unaware at that time of any actions she may have taken in support of LGBTQ equality.

Rawal pointed to a letter signed by 375 students sent last week to School Board members and a consulting firm that Fairfax school officials retained to organize a search for the new superintendent explaining the studentsā€™ objections to the approval of Reid as superintendent.

ā€œUnfortunately, the voices of the student body were not heard during this search process,ā€ the letter says. It says that while school officials held a 15-day community outreach period that included an 11-member student ā€œstakeholder group,ā€ the group was not representative of the full student body.

In a separate statement, the NAACP said it favored the hiring of another finalist candidate for the Fairfax school superintendentā€™s job, a Black woman educator and Omaha, Neb., Public Schools Superintendent Cheryl Logan, who withdrew from contention for the job on April 9 without giving a reason, according to reports by the Washington Post.  

ā€œThe issue we all agree on is that Fairfax County Public Schools needs a superintendent who has commensurate experience in leading organizations of this size, diversity, complexity, and that the Superintendent of Northshore School District isnā€™t the right fit,ā€ a joint statement released by the NAACP and other groups opposing Reidā€™s appointment, including Pride Liberation Project, says.

School Board members who supported Reid said she stood out from the pool of 72 applicants, among other things, because of her approach to equity and inclusion, according to FFX Now, the online Fairfax local news site. ā€œAmong this large, strong group, Dr. Reid was consistently at the top,ā€ FFX Now quoted School Board Vice Chair Rachna Sizemore-Heizer as saying.

ā€œWe asked all of our applicants about how they would heal a divided community,ā€ Frisch told fellow board members. ā€œIt says a lot about her character that she told us she would listen and that she would not presume to speak for others whose lived experience is different from her own,ā€ Frisch said.

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Va. teacher fired for refusing to use studentā€™s preferred pronouns reaches $575K settlement

State Supreme Court ruled in Peter Vlamingā€™s favor

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(Bigstock photo)

A Virginia teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender studentā€™s preferred pronouns has reached a settlement with the West Point School Board, securing $575,000 in damages and legal fees. 

The school board agreed to settle Peter Vlamingā€™s wrongful termination lawsuit after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled last December it had violated Vlamingā€™s rights. 

In 2018, the school board fired the former French teacher for violating school board policies that prohibit discrimination and harassment based on gender identity.

Vlaming had refused to use male pronouns when referring to a trans student in his class. 

Following his dismissal, he sued the school board, claiming that the request to use the studentā€™s preferred pronouns violated his conscience and went against his religious and philosophical convictions. 

The King William County Circuit Court first dismissed Vlamingā€™s case, but the Virginia Supreme Court later reinstated it and ruled in Vlamingā€™s favor.

ā€œIā€™m very grateful for the work of my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to bring my case to victory, and hope it helps protect every other teacher and professorā€™s fundamental First Amendment rights,ā€ Vlaming said in a statement through Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative, anti-LGBTQ Christian legal organization that represents him.

The West Point School Board has since revised its policies to comply with Gov. Glenn Youngkinā€™s overhaul of model policies for trans and nonbinary students.Ā Ā 

The new policies, which went into effect in July 2023, mandate that schools use studentsā€™ names and pronouns based on the sex listed in their official records. Staff are prohibited from using a different name or pronoun unless parents provide written consent, and students are required to use bathrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth. 

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Arlington County forms LGBTQ Advisory Committee

First meeting to take place on Oct. 21

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(Washington Blade photo by Ernesto Valle)

Arlington Countyā€™s newly formed LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting on Oct. 21. 

The committee will guide county leadership on LGBTQ issues and ensure representation of the community in local government.

Officially formed by Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz, the committee was developed in collaboration with Equality Arlington, a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization. 

ā€œWeā€™re excited to see what the committee can do to help improve the county’s understanding of and services for the LGBTQ+ community,ā€ Kellen MacBeth, the president and founder of Equality Arlington, said. 

The committee was developed with Alexandriaā€™s LGBTQ+ Task Force and the D.C. Mayorā€™s Office of LGBTQ Affairs as references. The County Manager will appoint 15 members who are active in the LBGTQ community to two year terms.

According to the committee’s charter, it will ā€œkeep county and community leadership apprised of issues and actions regarding the needs of LGBTQ+ residents, make recommendations to ensure LGBTQ+ residents can thrive in the county, and work to increase understanding and support for the LGBTQ+ community.ā€

The County Manager created the committee in response to a letter Equality Arlington sent to the Arlington County government in March that highlighted several areas where the county could improve its responsiveness to the needs of LGBTQ residents.

MacBeth said Equality Arlington had found that, while the county had an LGBTQĀ  liaison role, few people in the community and the county government knew about its existence. The role, he said, seemed to be more about securing points on the Human Rights Campaignā€™s Municipal Equality Index ā€” a tool evaluating the inclusiveness of municipal laws, policies, and services for LGBTQ people ā€” than about serving the community.

ā€œAnd we said, ā€˜Thatā€™s not what people think of when they think of having a liaison to a particular group within the community,ā€™ā€ MacBeth explained.

Together with the County Manager, Equality Arlington drafted the committeeā€™s charter and proposed community members who could fill its seats, such as Freddie Lutz, the owner of Freddieā€™s Beach Bar  in Arlington. 

MacBeth envisions the committee as a place for LGBTQ Arlingtonians to interact with county government and increase the collaboration and coordination of the different LGBTQ serving organizations in the county, particularly in preparation for WorldPride in 2025. 

The first meeting on Oct. 21 will begin at 6 p.m. and members of the public can engage with the committee both virtually and in person at the Bozman Government Center. 

An application for those who are interested in serving on the committee is still open on the Arlington County website as of Wednesday.

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New Virginia license plate celebrates LGBTQ diversity

450 applications needed for it to become official option

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(Image courtesy of Diversity Richmond)

Diversity Richmond has designed a license plate that allows Virginia drivers to celebrate and raise the visibility of LGBTQ diversity. The Virginia-based LGBTQ nonprofit needs 450 applications by January for the plate to become an official state option. 

The license plate design features a group of hands stacked on top of each other in the far left corner, and the Progress Pride flag runs horizontally across the bottom of the plate. The words ā€œCelebrate Diversityā€ are prominently displayed over the flag. 

Rev. Dr. Lacette Cross, executive director of Diversity Richmond, said the design celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community.

ā€œ[The design] reflects the diversity of the intersecting identities of our community,ā€ she said.  

Applications are available on Diversity Richmondā€™s website, and the license plate costs $25. Once completed, applicants should email the form to Diversity Richmond, not to the Virginia DMV, as Diversity Richmond will submit both the applications and fees to the DMV on their behalf.

If the organization gathers 450 applications and payments by the start of the 2025 Virginia General Assembly session in January, Del. Betsy B. Carr (D-Richmond) will sponsor the plate through the approval process to make it an official option. 

The initiative also serves as a fundraiser for Diversity Richmond, which will receive a portion of the proceeds from the license plate registration fees. 

ā€œThe ultimate benefit,ā€ Cross said, ā€œis the continual visibility of LGBTQ persons, our allies, and our supporters that are driving around the Commonwealth of Virginia, spreading the message of acceptance and of allyship.ā€

She described Diversity Richmond as the hub of the LGBTQ community in Greater Richmond, noting the organizationā€™s ā€œreally dynamicā€ work within the community. The nonprofit runs the popular thrift store Diversity Thrift, hosts the annual Virginia Pridefest in September, and exhibits the work of LGBTQ artists in its art gallery.

Diversity Richmond is planning to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a public party at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture on Wednesday, Nov. 13. 

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