Chesapeake Residents File Suit Against Chesapeake Public School Board

Jason McDonald

Jan 13, 2026

Chesapeake individuals file suit against Chesapeake Public School Board for new pronoun policy.

Yesterday, parents, students, and teachers of Chesapeake Public Schools filed a complaint against Chesapeake School Board. The individuals seek declaratory relief and permanent injunction to overturn the amendments to Policy 8-02. The complaint defends the basic principles of the respect for the rule of law and stands against systemic violence against transgender and non-binary students and employees. 

On December 15, 2025, Chesapeake School Board voted on and passed allegedly discriminatory policy targeting transgender and non-binary employees and students. This policy directly conflicts with established laws which the School Board has a duty to abide by. The filed complaint argues this policy is an abuse of discretion and authority, and the School Board acted capriciously in enacting an unlawful policy. 

The Chesapeake School Board amended Policy 8-02 to add the following: 

• Refrain from compelling any staff member to address any employee or refer to any employee in a manner that violates the staff member’s constitutionally protected rights 

• Refrain from providing to a student [their] preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to [their] sex 

• Compel any student to address any employee or refer to any employee in a manner that violates the student’s constitutionally protected rights. 

The complaint was filed by Education Lawyer, Julea Seliavski, and alleges the policy is a direct violation of federal and state laws.

The complaint alleges that the new policy implicates several key rights, including those stemming from: Title VII; Title IX; Section 504; Title II of the ADA; the Virginia Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution. The School Board policy changes jeopardize the safety, security, and mental health of teachers and students, transgender or not. Julea believes the School Board action reflects this Country’s latest disregard for basic separation of power principles and respect for the law. 

In a press release Seliavski says, "This policy opens the door for harassment to begin or continue unabated. This lack of acceptance, support, and discrimination from the Chesapeake School Board hinders the education of students. It sends a message that any elected official may disregard established rights merely because they personally don’t like it. It is a slippery slope that sends the wrong message to our children: a message of othering rather than acceptance. "

An unidentified CPS employee was also quoted, saying “This is not just about accepting transgender people. It’s about accepting that there are concepts in this world that not everyone will experience or understand. Just because someone does not fit neatly into a social box – able-bodied versus disabled versus invisible disabilities; cisgender, transgender, nonbinary; neurodivergent versus neurotypical; gay, straight, asexual, bisexual, etc; male, female, intersex – does not make them less than a person. It does not make them unworthy of basic decency and respect. It does not mean that they are amoral or immoral. The school board as a whole, or as individual people, can dislike transgender people. They can avoid them upon meeting. But they cannot remove rights.” 

The case was filed in the Circuit Court of Chesapeake in Virginia. Seliavski and others are scheduled to hold a press conference on January 15 at 4:30 p.m. EST in front of the Chesapeake Circuit Court .