Residents address Stafford School Board after transgender student benched

STAFFORD — Residents are speaking out after, a transgender student at Stafford Middle School was barred from using both boys and girls locker rooms during a lockdown drill in which a child was forced to sit in the bleachers alone.

It happened last week during a drill, which is common within Stafford County Public Schools. Two drills have taken place already this school year.

Students in the entire building participate in these simulated drills so that they will know what to do if a school shooting were to occur.

During Tuesday evenings School Board meeting LGBT rights group “Equality Stafford” set up small protests, spoke during the public comments section of the meeting, passed out filers and LGBT flags.

A family member spoke for the unnamed student.

“Dear board members I am the student who was banned from the locker room It was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever had to deal with. If there was a shooter I would’ve been the first one gone. It was embarrassing that I had a panic attack in front of everyone. I want to stop being treated like an afterthought. It is time to fix this,” she read.

Stafford County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner said he apologized to the student who was left out of the lockdown drill. Kizner’s goal is to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

“Stafford County Public Schools does not comment on individual student incident but I want to make some briefs remarked,” Kizner said. “Although there has been some inadequate info on social media I believe there was no malicious intent.”

School Board members also addressed the issue.

“I believe we need to move forward with this,” Holly Hazard, Hartwood District representative, said, Referring to the policy changes that could take in effect once the board meets and has a discussion on this issue.

“One of the things that has struck me since I’ve been on the board is the citizen outreach to us,” Dr. Sarah Chase, Falmouth District representative, said, commenting on the number of residents who contacted her about this issue.

“We will move forward with this issue,” Dwyane McOsker, George Washington District representative said, noting that he wanted to end the issues with transgender students.

“This is emotional and personal for me,” said a choked-up Pam Yeung, Garrisonville District representative. It’s about action, making a change, equity, and diversity.”

The story gained national attention. Kizner has said he’s ordered an extensive review on the system’s practices and plans to work with the Stafford LGBT community to solve these issues.

Residents also address the school board Tuesday night.

Jeffery Trigger, an educator and member of Stafford Education Association, had the loudest and longest applause of the night.

“With the growth in the county it has become more diverse,” Trigger said. “I’m tired of not being able to talk to a student about themselves to me. I’m tired of people feeling excluded because a policy isn’t in place.“

“I believe that it was a form of bullying, [to keep the student alone]” Stafford County resident Pam Lightfoot said. “It was disturbing to read that they separated the student for the other students’ safety.”

Many speakers provided a willingness to reason and work with the board to find solutions to include making students feel safe in school, using the locker rooms, and bathrooms.

Joshua Cole, who unsuccessfully ran for state delegate in Virginia’s District 28 in Fredericksburg and Stafford, is a 2009 graduate from North Stafford High School.

“I hear different stories from Stafford. The overcrowded school bus, the Confederate flag sitting near to mile marker 135 on I-95, and now this incident. Stafford County is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, everyone is moving forward, Prince William, Fredericksburg, but Stafford is stuck in the 1950’s,” said Cole.

A middle school student, Nate Evert, who has spoken in front of the board before came before the board again to talk about the issue.

“Saftey is an issue for LGBT students,” Evert said. “Educators tell bullies to ‘stop that or knock it off. SCPS schools don’t protect LGBT students the policies need to be changed.”

In 2015, the School Board dealt with another controversy when a transgender student — a male transitioning to female — wished to use the girls’ bathroom but was denied doing so by the board. They required the student to use the male or faculty bathroom.