By Guy Page

As reported in April by VDC, 199 Vermont schools have adopted a Vermont Agency of Education policy allowing schools to withhold students’ preferred gender language from parents.

Marie Tiemann of SpeakVT addressed the subject Tuesday night on the prime time  Rob Finnerty Show on Newsmax, reportedly the #4 cable news network after Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. Click on link in photo caption above to see entire segment.

As reported by VDC April 21, national education watchdog group says dozens of Vermont school districts have policies that may allow student gender transitions to be kept from parents, according to a report released April 20.

Defending Education identified 37 Vermont school districts and supervisory unions — representing 199 schools and more than 52,000 students — with policies it says permit staff to withhold information about a student’s gender identity from parents in certain circumstances.

The report also states that many of the same policies allow students to participate in sports and use facilities based on their gender identity.

The group’s findings are based in part on guidance issued by the Vermont Agency of Education, specifically its 2016 “Best Practices for Schools Regarding Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students.” That document has been used as a model for local district policies across the state, according to the report. The 2016 policy can be viewed, and downloaded, in the report.

Among the districts listed are Burlington School District, Champlain Valley Unified School District, Montpelier Roxbury School District, and Winooski School District, along with numerous supervisory unions statewide.