Arben Istrefi (Sterling), the vice chair of the Sterling school board, convened his first town hall meeting on March 6 to discuss drugs and mental health care in schools. A portion of the audience, however, wanted to concentrate on the team’s policy regarding transgender student rights.
According to the recent plan, students can use locker rooms and bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity.
For about 25 minutes, Istrefi addressed the audience, introducing himself, and talking about the sheriff’s $1.8 billion funds and plans to construct a new Park View High School.
Undergraduate Assistance Specialist Darren Madison, section mental health services representative Charles Barret, and school mental health services director Jennifer Evans shared information about the challenges students are currently facing with drugs and mental health, the ways students are bringing drugs into schools, and what the division is doing to combat drugs.
In February, Evans addressed the school board in a similar manner.
Parents asked a number of questions during the mental health presentation regarding mental health and how the division evaluates counselors.
There were two minutes left in the hour-long meeting when Istrefi opened it up for questions. He elicited inquiries from a number of families who wanted to know where he stood regarding the proposed changes to the team’s transgender student rights scheme and bathroom and locker area use according to gender identity.
In regards to where he stood privately on the transgender rights policy and where he stood privately on the subject of sexually explicit material being allowed in books, Mike Rivera, a School Board candidate in 2023, and Tiffany Polifko, a previous School Board part.
Istrefi said he was against censorship and that he needed to examine the procedures the department uses to safeguard children from sexually explicit books. He added that he would like to talk more about the policy. A School Board committee last month voted to require the director to convene area focus groups to examine the policy.
When it came to the transgender student rights policy, Istrefi said there seemed to be no room for compromise, which made it difficult to discuss and work on.
“I think we can figure out a way to work on this without again harming anyone,” he said, “I think we should figure out how to do this with the appropriate discourse and sensitivity, because again I acknowledge this is sensitive.”
In a letter to Istrefi, a Republican candidate for the 10th Congressional District, Clancy asked if he would support including the discourse of the policy on the school board agenda.
“There are a lot of families who want these laws to be put into effect,” he said.
According to school board policy, two more board members are required to be in favor of adding an item to the agenda.
Istrefi claimed that school leaders were attempting to listen to everyone and take all the legal issues into account. He suggested that the decision may be made at the state level, which drew an angry outburst from the crowd.
“I think as a school board trying to make this work for everyone, I think there is work to be done, and making it black and white is harmful for all factors, so we have to be intelligent about it,” said Istrefi.
Ommair Butt, a Sterling
resident who began voicing his opposition to the team’s current transgender rights policy, watched the town hall from his family’s New York hospital bed. He claimed that Istrefi’s lack of responses regarding where he stood on the policy and what he intended to do as a panel member frustrated him.
“People are offended by a scheme made by members of the board we elected. According to him, the new board has the option to do what is best for the majority, not the minority. He wants a town hall with the whole School Board to gather to discover more information about the subject.
In accordance with the Northam administration’s type policies, which focused on the rights of transgender and gender expansive students, the department adopted Policy 8040 on August 11, 2021. Children are entitled to have access to facilities and locker rooms that reflect their gender identity in accordance with the policy. According to some critics, transgender students are protected by rolled-back protections in Youngkin’s type policies, which include updated guidance on restrooms and parental rights.
