VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The future of transgender students in Virginia Beach City Public Schools is still up in the air after Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

That meeting spilled over into early Wednesday morning, not ending until around 1:30 a.m.

Chairwoman Trenace Riggs outlined the main topics of discussion.

“What would be used on a student’s record and what they could be called and the facilities that students would use if they were on an all-night out-of-town field trip,” Riggs said.

The meeting came on the heels of two parents suing the school district for not fully adopting Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s model policies on transgender students. Youngkin himself has offered praise for the parents suing the board.

His blueprint heavily focuses on parents’ rights, giving them control over what name or pronouns their children can use in school.

That also relates to what bathrooms they can use and what sports they can play.

Riggs told 10 On Your Side the meeting ended with no vote because members are still trying to decide on the wording to regulate some of Youngkin’s guidelines to make them more inclusive.

“Because we need to take care of all students,” Riggs said. “It’s not just about one group, it’s about the safety of all students.”

Youngkin has said his policy must be followed.

That statement goes back to a bill enacted by the 2020 Virginia General Assembly.

It states that the Department of Education shall develop and make available to school boards model policies concerning treatment of transgender students in public schools.

That also includes how those students identify, enforcement of a sex-based dress code and more.

The bill also states that the school board is required to adopt these model policies, but it can be more comprehensive than the guidelines.

Riggs focused on that one word, model, and said that’s why they can tweak some of the governor’s policies.

“His are called a model policy,” Riggs said, “and as our understanding as the way it was presented, is that we could build our policies around his model policies. Model, as in we can model around it.”

The delayed meeting disappointed, but didn’t surprise, Virginia Beach parent Cody Conner.

He moved to Virginia Beach looking for more inclusive school districts after his daughter came out to him as transgender.

He said the same month they relocated, Youngkin released his model policies.

He told 10 On Your Side he’s spoken 14 times at school board meetings.

“A parent has the right to be responsible for their child’s well-being,” he said. “The parent has a right to be responsible for being involved in their child’s life, knowing what their child is doing and who their child is.”

He got emotional as he thought about how all of this is affecting his child.

“She said, ‘dad, you know, when people misgender me, it doesn’t really bother me that much, but it does make me feel sad inside to think that so many people just don’t want me to exist,'” he said while choking up. “My daughter is just trying her best to love herself for who she is and that’s what they’re attacking.”

Riggs said the next meeting to vote on the regulations is set for Oct. 10.