A couple of weeks ago we told you about the fact Iowa schools and teachers are not obligated to tell parents about preferred pronouns being used in school.
For instance, if a child tells a teacher or school they want to use pronouns different from their biological realities, the school is not likely to tell the child’s parents.
Read that story here.
One reason for this may be it was the instruction given by the Iowa Department of Education in the past.
While the website on legal lessons for equality for transgender students currently says the webpage is being reviewed for continued legal analysis, it gave pretty explicit instructions previously.
On May 19, 2021, the same website explicitly instructed educational institutions that a student has a right to keep their status as a transgender student private.
“The district should keep this information confidential and staff should not disclose this unless legally required to,” the guidance stated. “Even if the student has disclosed their status to other staff or students it is not the schools information to share.”
In 2021, there was a bill that would have required schools and/or teachers to disclose this information to parents, but it failed to advance in the Republican-led legislature.
