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(NEW YORK) — The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said he thinks Norfolk Southern Railway could have been more “aggressive” in its initial response to the hazardous train derailment in Ohio.

“They absolutely did not handle themselves appropriately when they didn’t show up for the community meeting,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told ABC News on Tuesday afternoon, following a press conference in East Palestine, Ohio.

Norfolk Southern had said that its representatives did not attend the Feb. 15 town hall meeting in East Palestine due to concerns “about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the participation of outside parties.”

The EPA administrator returned to the tiny village in northeastern Ohio to meet again with affected residents, speak with officials and tour a newly opened health assessment clinic. When asked whether he believes the headaches, sore throats and other ailments reported by residents are related to the Feb. 3 derailment, Regan told ABC News: “You know, we just don’t know and I don’t want to speculate. What I want to do is assure people if they are experiencing an adverse health impact, seek medical attention and, hopefully, that information will make its way to the county health officials.”

Regan also had strong words for Norfolk Southern during Tuesday’s press conference, announcing that the EPA is ordering the Atlanta-based rail operator “to conduct all necessary actions associated with the cleanup from the East Palestine train derailment.” Norfolk Southern will be required to continue cleaning up the contaminated soil and water and transport it safely; reimburse the EPA for cleaning services; and attend public meetings at the EPA’s request and share information. If Norfolk Southern does not comply, the company will be ordered to pay triple the cost, according to Regan.

“Let me also be crystal clear: Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess that they created and the trauma that they inflicted on this community and impacted Beaver County residents,” he said. “I know this order cannot undo the nightmare that families in this town have been living with, but it will begin to deliver much-needed justice for the pain that Norfolk Southern has caused.”

When asked by ABC News why the EPA waited almost three weeks to make demands, Regan said state officials had the primacy of leading the response.

Earlier Tuesday, Regan met privately with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway.

“During that meeting, I expressed our concerns and expectations regarding the clean-up efforts,” Conaway said in a statement that night. “I was assured by both that we will not be alone throughout this process and have their full support. After that meeting, I am confident that we will receive the help we need.”

The meeting came after Conaway told Fox News on Monday evening that U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine was “the biggest slap in the face.” The mayor told reporters the next day that he was frustrated but still stands by those comments.

While in Poland on Tuesday night, Biden made five telephone calls to officials in Ohio managing the derailment response. Conaway was notably missing from the call list provided by the White House.

On the night of Feb. 3, about 50 cars of a freight train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed in a fiery crash on the outskirts of East Palestine, which is nestled near Ohio’s state line with Pennsylvania. Eleven of the derailed cars were transporting hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses. There were no injuries reported from the accident, officials said.

Efforts to contain a fire at the derailment site stalled the following night, as firefighters withdrew from the blaze due to concerns about air quality and explosions. About half of East Palestine’s roughly 4,700 residents were warned to leave before officials decided on Feb. 6 to conduct a controlled release and burn of the toxic vinyl chloride from the five tanker cars, which were in danger of exploding. A large ball of fire and a plume of black smoke filled with contaminants could be seen billowing high into the sky from the smoldering derailment site as the controlled burn took place that afternoon, prompting concerns from residents about the potential effects.

A mandatory evacuation order for homes and businesses within a 1-mile radius of the derailment site was lifted on Feb. 8, after air and water samples taken the day before were deemed safe, officials said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed a team to East Palestine on Feb. 18 to help support the ongoing operations there.

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board shared an update on its ongoing probe into the Feb. 3 incident, saying “investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment.”

“Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the NTSB said in an investigative update on Feb. 14. “The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination. The suspected overheated wheel bearing has been collected and will be examined by engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C.”

Norfolk Southern announced Monday that 15,000 pounds of contaminated soil — equivalent to 7.5 tons — as well as 1.5 million gallons of contaminated water have been excavated from the derailment site and “will be transported to landfills and disposal facilities that are designed to accept it safely in accordance with state and federal regulations.” The company did not say which chemicals were found in the material that was removed.

Meanwhile, a “series of pumps” are rerouting Sulphur Run around the derailment site, according to the Norfolk Southern. The “affected portion” of the creek, which flows through downtown East Palestine, “has been dammed to protect water downstream” as “environmental teams” treat it “with booms, aeration, and carbon filtration units,” the company said.

“Those teams are also working with stream experts to collect soil and groundwater samples to develop a comprehensive plan to address any contamination that remains in the stream banks and sediment,” Norfolk Southern added. “The majority of the hazardous rail cars have been decontaminated and are being held on-site to allow the National Transportation Safety Board to continue its investigation. Once that is completed, the cars will be scrapped and moved off-site for disposal.”

Since the Feb. 3 derailment, Norfolk Southern said it has committed more than $5.6 million to the community of East Palestine, including $3.4 million in direct payments to affected residents.

During Tuesday’s press conference, the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania revealed that their state attorneys general are considering legal action against Norfolk Southern — a potential addition to the steep financial penalties federal officials say they are levying against the company.

When asked if he believes officials when they say they won’t leave East Palestine behind when the cameras are gone, the mayor told reporters he “has to trust the people behind me.”

In his statement on Tuesday night, Conaway announced a local effort launched to disseminate accurate information will be launched Wednesday. He warned residents not to “fall prey to anyone else that may be going around trying to scare folks by handing out flyers that simply are not accurate.”

“Something that was brought up with the difficulty for residence to find information and resources available to them,” the mayor said. “In response to these concerns, our state partners collaborated with our local EMA to put together a single source resource packet. Starting tomorrow, local volunteers will go door to door and hand deliver this packet to all those that are in a one-mile radius. Our folks will be easily identifiable and the packet will be from local and state government.”

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(NEW YORK) — A grandmother has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing her 7-year-old granddaughter multiple times with a kitchen knife.

The incident occurred on Tuesday morning when police were called to a home in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City regarding a 7-year-old girl who had allegedly been stabbed multiple times with a kitchen knife by her own grandmother, according to ABC News’ New York City station WABC-TV.

Police found the young girl lying on the bed of her apartment and was immediately taken to Lincoln Hospital where she was listed in critical condition, according to WABC.

“[The police officer] came out running from where he was at with the little girl. The property that they have is a couple of houses away. So we just seen that he came out running,” witness Ana Martinez told WABC in an interview following the incident. “The cop car was right in front of my property. So he just put her right in the cop car. He didn’t wait for the ambulance.”

The girl’s grandmother, 65-year-old Mariza Yauger, was immediately taken into police custody as a person of interest and was later arrested and charged with attempted murder, attempted manslaughter, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child, according to WABC.

“I’m a grandmother myself,” neighbor China Aponte told WABC. “I just don’t even have words for it. My heart is broken. It is sad. Very sad.”

The girl’s uncle told WABC that she has since undergone surgery and is recovering in the hospital. There is currently no known motive for the attack.

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(NEW YORK) — Three climbers have been killed in an avalanche after the lead climber accidentally triggered it while attempting to reach the peak of an 8,705-foot mountain over the weekend.

The incident occurred on Sunday when a group of six climbers — all from the East Coast — were attempting to climb Colchuck Peak which sits at the south end of Colchuck Lake, approximately 8 miles south of Leavenworth, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest.

“The lead climber triggered an avalanche while attempting to climb the Northeast Couloir of Colchuck Peak,” officials from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office in a statement following the tragedy.

Four of the climbers were swept approximately 500 feet down the mountain during the avalanche that ended up killing three of them. The fourth climber, a 56-year-old man from New York, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was able to hike back to base camp with the two remaining survivors, a 50-year-old man from New York and a 36-year-old man from New Jersey.

When they finally arrived at camp, they sent a seventh member who did not venture out climbing for the day — a 53-year-old Maryland man — to go get help.

The three climbers that died as a result of trauma sustained in the fall were a 60-year-old female from New York, a 66-year-old male from New Jersey and a 53-year-old male from Connecticut, authorities confirmed. None of the identities of those involved in the incident have been released.

“Sheriff Mike Morrison reports on February 20th, 2023, deputies were contacted at the CCSO Leavenworth substation about an avalanche that occurred near Colchuck Lake the previous day,” read the statement from Chelan County Sheriff’s Office in the aftermath of the avalanche. “A total of 22 rescuers responded to the trailhead to assist with this effort. They were from Chelan County Mounty Rescue, Chelan County Volunteer Search and Rescue and ORV unit, Seattle Mountain Rescue, Tacoma Mountain Rescue, and Yakima Mountain Rescue.”

Once officials reached the base camp at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Monday, they determined that, due to the avalanche conditions, it was too dangerous to continue their recovery mission of the three deceased climbers and made the decision to return with the surviving climbers back to the trailhead, authorities said.

As of Wednesday, rescuers have still not been able to return to the scene due to the continuing hazardous conditions and officials from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office say they are continuing to work with the Northwest Avalanche Center to assist in a recover plan for the bodies of the three climbers.

In total, nine people have died this winter in avalanches across the United States, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center — four in Colorado in three separate instances, one in Montana, one in Nevada and now three in Washington following this event.

Last winter, 17 deaths from avalanches were reported in the United States with no single incident killing more than two people, making this the largest avalanche death toll since an avalanche at Wilson Glade in Mill Creek Canyon, Utah, killed four people on Feb. 6, 2021, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

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(UVALDE, Texas) — Even though he was fired for cause, Pete Arredondo, the Texas school district police chief terminated for his actions on the day of a schoolhouse massacre last year, won an appeal to remove a blemish from his discharge file, according to a state think tank that studied his case file.

The decision does not enable Arredondo to get his job in Uvalde back, but it clears his record in the event he seeks employment at another agency.

“The whole point of this … discharge system is to be a red flag for hiring agencies,” said Luis Soberon, a policy adviser for think tank Texas 2036 who released the report Tuesday. “If that is the primary function of this system, it doesn’t work very well.”

A gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary school last May. The law enforcement response, which Arredondo presided over, has been criticized by experts and other law enforcement officials. Arredondo was fired after a unanimous vote by the Uvalde School Board.

When any law enforcement officer is fired in Texas, the firing agency submits a termination report to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement classifying the firing as dishonorable, general or honorable. The officer can then appeal to upgrade the classification through the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Agency records show Arredondo appealed his status in September, a month after he was fired. The case file shows a default judgment and decision was reached at the end of January, indicating Arredondo had won his bid to upgrade his termination classification.

Neither Arredondo nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment on his appeal.

Soberon said, “The only time you see a default decision and order is when it is in favor of the petitioner, the former officer.”

The case result was first reported by the Houston Chronicle.

The actual case documents are confidential, according to Shane Linkous, general counsel at State Office of Administrative Hearings. So Soberon doesn’t know what termination classification Arredondo had received prior to his appeal, nor the arguments he made in favor of his appeal.

But, winning his appeal means that he doesn’t have a dishonorable discharge — the lowest of the three tiers — on his policing record.

A default judgment also means that the agency who filed the report — in this case, the Uvalde school district — did not “show up” to fight the appeal, said Soberon. The entire agency was disbanded in October, so the responsibility to reply to Arredondo’s appeal would have fallen on Interim Police Chief Josh Gutierrez when he was hired in November. Last week, the district began the process of reconstituting the police force, hiring two new school police officers under Gutierrez.

The Uvalde School District did not respond to repeated requests for additional information about the termination report or why Arredondo won his appeal by default.

Arredondo has repeatedly defended his actions on the day of the shooting. He called his firing a “public lynching” and said his actions during the tragedy saved lives.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former Proud Boys official Jeremy Bertino — who last year pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy related to Jan. 6 — took the witness stand in Washington on Tuesday in the seditious conspiracy trial of the far-right group’s principal leadership.

Bertino said interest and membership requests for the Proud Boys surged after then-President Donald Trump addressed the group by name during a 2020 presidential debate.

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said at the time. “But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about [leftist movement] antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.”

Bertino, whom the government has said joined the Proud Boys in 2018 and served as vice president of his local chapter, testified on Tuesday that he was “stunned and excited” to hear Trump mention the group.

His baseless belief that the 2020 election was stolen continued to grow in the months and weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, a view that he shared with other members of the Proud Boys, he said. (He previously testified before the House Jan. 6 committee.)

Proud Boys’ former leader Enrique Tarrio and four associates are on trial facing charges of seditious conspiracy against the U.S. over their involvement with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

They have all pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys have argued some of their conduct was constitutionally protected speech.

“Mr. Tarrio is looking forward to the start of the trial,” his defense attorney, Nayib Hassan, previously said in a statement to ABC News. “We look forward to making our presentation of the evidence and acquitting Mr. Tarrio of the government’s allegations.”

On the stand, Bertino described the mindset of him and other Proud Boys.

“Everything seemed like a conspiracy at that point,” he said.

The group also held strong views against anyone they deemed to be part of “the left” or “antifa,” a reference to far-left protestors who take drastic and sometimes violent measures to, they say, oppose fascism.

“I believed they were the foot soldiers of the left,” Bertino testified.

He went on to note that the Proud Boys believed they were the “foot soldiers of the right.”

Under questioning by a government prosecutor, Bertino’s testimony painted a picture for the jury which connected the Proud Boys’ hatred of “antifa” with their involvement in Jan. 6. Bertino said he believed at the time that “antifa” was funded by Democrats.

The Proud Boys call themselves “Western chauvinists,” believing that they are responsible for “creating the modern world.”

Defense attorneys on Tuesday objected to several questions the government posed to Bertino, especially when he was asked to describe the collective views of the group.

But Bertino testified to having a close and friendly relationship with Proud Boys leadership before ultimately deciding to leave the group.

Prior to his departure, Bertino led recruitment for the Proud Boys in North Carolina and was close to the highest levels of the group’s leadership. He was not in Washington on Jan. 6 and was recovering from a stabbing that occurred at a previous demonstration the Proud Boys had attended.

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(SANTA FE, N.M.) — Alec Baldwin’s defense attorneys on Tuesday withdrew their motion challenging the gun enhancement charges that prosecutors in New Mexico dropped from the criminal charges but not without a few pointed words for their adversaries.

The Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office announced Monday it is dropping the gun enhancement charge — a crime that would have carried a five-year sentence if convicted — against Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in October 2021.

The defense notice to withdraw took aim at the special prosecutor’s characterization of Baldwin’s counsel as “fancy lawyers” who were attempting to “distract” from the case.

“Members of the prosecution team had amplified the error in the Original Information by repeatedly giving interviews on national television in which they erroneously claimed that the enhancement was not only applicable to Mr. Baldwin, but mandatory, and that Mr. Baldwin was facing an additional five years in prison as a result,” defense attorney Luke Nikas said.

Nikas included a series of emails from special prosecutor Andrea Reeb, one of which accused the defense of failing to follow proper procedures and threatened to pursue sanctions. A subsequent email backtracked.

“I 100 percent agree with your assessment on the issue. I will have our documents drafted to amend the criminal information to take off the firearm enhancement and file something withdrawing the firearm enhancement,” the email, dated Feb. 12, said.

More than a week later, Feb. 20, Reeb filed the amended charging document that dropped the enhancement.

Baldwin still faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter for the shooting, however, that crime would carry a lesser sentence of 18 months if convicted.

His first court appearance, virtual, is scheduled for Friday.

ABC News’ Mark Osbourne contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The family of Malcolm X announced Tuesday they intend to file a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against U.S. government agencies and the NYPD for allegedly concealing evidence related to the assassination of the civil rights leader, who was shot and killed while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on Feb. 21, 1965.

Two of Malcom X’s daughters, along with their attorneys Ben Crump and Ray Hamlin, spoke out at a press conference at The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center in New York City on Tuesday, nearly six decades after their father’s death.

Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter, said that the family is seeking “justice” for a man “who gave his life for human rights.”

“For years our family has fought for the truth to come to light concerning his murder, and we’d like our father to receive the justice that he deserves,” she said. “The truth about the circumstances leading to the death of our father is important – not only to his family, but to many followers, many admirers … And it is our hope that litigation of this case will finally provide some unanswered questions. We want justice served for our father.”

Crump said that the lawsuit will name the city of New York, the state of New York, the FBI and the CIA as defendants.

“If the government compensated the two gentlemen that were wrongfully convicted for the assassination of Malcolm X with tens of millions of dollars, then what is to be the compensation for the daughters who suffered the most from the assassination of Malcolm X?” Crump said.

The NYPD and the FBI declined to comment on pending litigation in response to requests from ABC News. ABC News reached out to the FBI, CIA, the state of New York and the City of New York, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam – the two men who were exonerated in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X – received a $36 million settlement in Oct. 2022 after lawsuits were filed on their behalf in 2021 against both the city and the state of New York.

New York City agreed to pay $26 million in settling a lawsuit filed on behalf of Aziz and also Islam, who was exonerated posthumously in the killing. Meanwhile, the state of New York also agreed to pay an additional $10 million.

A New York City Law Department spokesman told ABC News in Oct. 2022 that the settlement “brings some measure of justice to individuals who spent decades in prison and bore the stigma of being falsely accused of murdering an iconic figure.”

“Based on our review, this office stands by the opinion of former Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance who stated, based on his investigation, that ‘there is one ultimate conclusion: Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam were wrongfully convicted of this crime,'” he added.

The lawsuits came after Vance, the former district attorney, moved to vacate the convictions of Aziz and Islam in Nov. 2021 after an investigation found “newly discovered evidence and the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence.”

The two-year probe, which was launched by Vance, attorneys David Shanies and Deb Francois and the Innocence Project, also found that the FBI failed to disclose documents that cast doubt on the involvement of Aziz and Islam in Malcolm X’s murder.

Vance criticized the way law enforcement handled the case and said the investigation revealed that certain witnesses, acting under orders from then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, were instructed not to reveal they were FBI informants.

Vance apologized last year on behalf of law enforcement for “serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.”

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Nakylah Carter contributed to this report.

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(MEDLEY, Fla.) — Two people have died and three others were injured following an explosion in Florida, authorities said on Tuesday.

The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Medley Police Department responded to reports of an explosion at 11350 Northwest South River Drive in Medley, Florida, at 8:42 a.m., the Miami-Dade Police Department said in a news release.

Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters discovered multiple people were on fire, according to a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesperson.

Two people were pronounced dead at the scene and three people were hurt in the fire, Miami-Dade Police Department said. Two were critically injured and were sent to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, according to police.

The explosion and fire happened at a welding company in Medley, according to ABC News Miami affiliate WPLG.

The Miami-Dade Police Department Homicide Bureau and its arson unit are investigating the incident, authorities said.

The incident comes a day after one person was killed and multiple others were injured in a fiery explosion at a manufacturing plant in Ohio.

Steven Mullins, a 46-year-old man from North Ridgeville, Ohio, was found dead at the scene on Monday, said Christopher Harris, external affairs manager of the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office.

There were “multiple burn victims” from inside the plant taken to the hospital, Bedford Heights Police Department Sgt. Robert Majer told ABC News.

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(NASHVILLE, TN) — Officials at Vanderbilt University are apologizing to students outraged that the university used ChatGPT to craft a consoling email after the mass shooting at Michigan State University.

Last Thursday, administrators at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development sent an email to students and staff that noted, in small print at the bottom, that the message was a “paraphrase from OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI language model, personal communication.”

The email stressed the importance of “a safe and inclusive environment for all” and encouraged members of the college to “come together as a community,” and was written in clear, understandable prose.

However, unlike a statement the day prior by the university’s vice provost, which seemed to use more personal language than the Peabody message, the Peabody email lacked a list of campus resources students could access to help them process their emotions.

Laith Kayat, a senior whose sister attends Michigan State, called the use of ChatGPT “disgusting.”

“There is a sick and twisted irony to making a computer write your message about community and togetherness because you can’t be bothered to reflect on it yourself,” Kayat told the Vanderbilt Hustler, the school’s student paper, who first reported the Peabody College’s use of AI.

According to the newspaper, Nicole Joseph, Peabody’s associate dean for equity, diversity and inclusion, sent a follow-up email apologizing.

“While we believe in the message and inclusivity expressed in the email, using ChatGPT to generate communications on behalf of our community in a time of sorrow and in response to a tragedy contradicts the values that characterize Peabody College,” Joseph wrote, according to the Hustler.

Joseph did not respond to ABC News about how much of the email was “paraphrased” by a human and how much reflected ChatGPT’s first draft.

Camilla Benbow, Dean of the Peabody College, said in a statement that she was unaware of the email before it was sent and said she is investigating what led up to its release.

“I offer my heartfelt apologies to all those who deserved better from us and did not receive it,” she said.

Joseph and Assistant Dean Hasina Mohyuddin will step back from their responsibilities with the EDI office as the university investigates, Benbow said in the statement.

A Vanderbilt spokeswoman directed ABC News to Benbow’s statement and did not answer questions about how often university representatives use ChatGPT in official communication.

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(VIRGINIA BEACH, VA) — Some students in Virginia are protesting a proposed transgender policy from the Virginia Department of Education.

At a Virginia Beach school board meeting last week, roughly 20 students spoke out about their personal experiences, as well as the experiences of their peers, and how they would be impacted by the new policy.

The policy would ban trans students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity and would require parents to approve name or pronoun changes. Parents would also be “fully informed” by school personnel of a child’s well-being, including their “health, and social and psychological development,” according to the policy details.

The Virginia Department of Education said in a statement that these model policies, “support positive and safe learning environments for all students while respecting the rights and values of parents.”

Some critical of the policy accuse it of being discriminatory against transgender students and threatening their safety and well-being at school and at home, where their gender identity may not be known or accepted.

One nonbinary student named Joey, whose preferred pronouns are “they/them,” said they told their coming out story to the school board to help convince them to vote against the new policies.

“[Joey] isn’t the name I was born with or even started high school with but it’s who I am,” said Joey. “I realized that I’m extremely lucky because I had multiple friends, teachers and staff who showed me how easy it was to accept me as me.”

Joey said the new policies would ruin that safety for other transgender and nonbinary students.

“These new model policies would rip that safety and stability away from me along with hundreds of other students,” Joey said. “I know it’s really hard to understand, but I need you guys to understand the anxiety I feel every time I walk into class and see that there’s a substitute teacher, and I don’t know what name they’re gonna say.”

Another student named AJ applauded the old policies and denounced the new ones.

“I would have never fathomed being able to come out and speak in front of all of you without the support of teachers and peers within my school, as well as the support and safety that the 2021 policies have allowed me to have. The 2022 model policies however, send me and other gender diverse students a strong message of hate and rejection,” AJ said at the board hearing.

“So many people within my school have allowed me to realize that it is not only okay for me to be myself, but it is a cause for celebration,” AJ added.

Students also highlighted research that shows that transgender and nonbinary students are already more likely to face bullying, mental health issues and suicidal ideations due to discrimination based on their identities, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other studies.

Virginia Beach’s Deaprtment of Education said it is currently reviewing public comments on the policies before being finalized by the superintendent of public instruction.

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