Who is Jolene Grover? Virginia schoolgirl, 14, slams policy allowing 'boys to use girls locker rooms'
A Virginia eighth-grader has slammed Loudoun County Public Schools for a policy that she believes allows boys to use girls locker rooms, endangering female students. Jolene Grover, 14, addressed the school district's proposed regulation 8040 at a board hearing on Tuesday, June 8.
The safety of students in schools has been under the spotlight increasingly after instances like where three Alabama high school football players were charged with assault for sexually abusing junior in a locker room. Three days ago on June 7, a Texas mom posed as her teenage daughter at school to highlight the school's security flaws.
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A Chicago school district in 2020 allowed transgender students unrestricted locker-room access. Grover's remarks follow the suspension of Byron Tanner Cross, a gym teacher at Leesburg Elementary in the same school district, who refused to affirm trans students while referring to draft policy 8040, which required Loudoun staff to use preferred pronouns.
8th Grader Jolene Grover:
— Just a Guy & Gal (@ramirern) June 11, 2021
"’Everyone knows what a boy is – even you,’ she added, looking up at the board members. ‘Your proposed policies are dangerous & rooted in sexism.’” … https://t.co/2EJV6g8F0Y
Who is Jolene Grover?
Grover is an eighth-grader whose mother withdrew her out of an LCPS school last year after learning about a number of divisive rules. Her mother removed her from an LCPS school last year after seeing various controversial policies emerging, according to Fox News.
"Two years ago, I was told policy 1040 was just an umbrella philosophy and you weren't going to allow boys into the girls' locker rooms. But here you are doing just that," Grover said while wearing a shirt that read 'Woman is female.'
The new proposed policy 8350 follows a previous one, 1040, in which the county pledged to provide an egalitarian, safe, and inclusive workplace regardless of "sexual orientation, gender identity," or other personal traits. Policy 8350 said LCPS staff "shall allow gender-expansive and transgender students to participate in such activities in a manner consistent with the student’s gender identity". A draft of a more recently proposed regulation, 8040, says "students should be permitted to use the facility that corresponds to their gender identity."
"Everyone knows what a boy is – even you. Your proposed policies are dangerous and rooted in sexism. When woke kids ask me if I was a lesbian or a trans boy because I cut my hair short, it should tell you these modern identities are superficial," Grover said.
"Now, boys are reading erotica in the classroom next to girls," she added in the speech, "and you want to give them access to girls' locker rooms and you want to force girls to call those boys 'she.'"
"You do this in the name of inclusivity while ignoring the girls who will pay the price. Your policies choose boys' wants over girls' needs."
Grover told Fox News on Thursday, June 10, that she was concerned that the proposed rule would result in girls being harassed and assaulted.