The Hanover County School Board voted 4-3 on Tuesday to engage the services of Alliance Defending Freedom to review the school district’s “Equal Educational Opportunities” policy.
The review, among other things, will impact the treatment of transgender students and the effort to make Hanover County Public Schools more inclusive and equitable.
Alliance Defending Freedom, labeled an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center since 2016, supports the idea that being LGBTQ+ should be a crime in the U.S. and internationally. ADF also opposes school-based anti-racism policies and has filed a lawsuit targeting Albemarle County Schools’ plan to eliminate racism and close long-standing achievement gaps among student groups.
Based on this and past actions, the ACLU of Virginia, Equality Virginia, He She Ze and We, the Hanover County NAACP, and Side by Side Virginia have filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all communications between the Hanover County School Board members, the Hanover County Public Schools’ senior leadership team, and ADF.
The request seeks any and all correspondence, including letters, emails, text messages, as well as contracts, engagement agreements or letters, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), retainer agreements, or other professional services between the Hanover County School Board and ADF.
In addition, the ACLU is demanding that the Board of Supervisors support a resolution to demonstrate their commitment to serve all students in Hanover and appoint school board members who will uphold that value by supporting inclusive, welcoming school environments for all of their students, including transgender students as well as Black and Brown students.
View the filing here: acluva.org/sites/default/files/2022.03.10_-_hanover_co_sch_bd_foia_request_vf.pdf
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Chris Graham
