Iowa leads nation in LGBT student protection

Iowa is a national leader in including sexual orientation and gender identity in school anti-bullying policies, according to a national report released Wednesday.

That’s likely because of Iowa’s 2007 Safe Schools law, which protects 17 student characteristics from harassment.

But Iowa advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students said more needs to be done to help students feel accepted and included.

“The kids tell us that bullying takes place basically every day in every school,” said Donna Red Wing, executive director of LGBT advocacy group One Iowa. “Bullying is a big problem, and a lot of young people have no idea what their rights are, and who they can go to.”

Ryan Hawkins, a gay-straight alliance sponsor at East High School in Des Moines, agrees.

“I know that if one of my students walked to my administrator’s offices, and if they said they had a problem, they would be responded to appropriately,” he said. “But I’m not saying that my kids feel safe enough to do that yet.”

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The report, released Wednesday by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, analyzed more than 13,000 school district policies nationwide, as well as state laws, to determine how much protection is given to students.

But because the policies were largely collected between 2009 and 2011 — and are at least four years old — practically all Iowa school bullying policies should have LGBT protections by now.

School districts were required to implement the Safe Schools law by 2008, which is checked during school re-accreditation every five years, said Staci Hupp, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Education.

“For school districts that are out of compliance, we would cite them and expect the issues to be corrected,” she said.

At the time policies were collected, the report said about 83 percent of Iowa districts specifically protect LGBT students in their policies.

About 5 percent of Iowa policies included gay, lesbian and bisexual protections, but not transgender protections. And nearly 7 percent had bullying policies, but no LGB protections.

Nationally, only 10 percent of school districts offered LGBT protection at the time.

An additional 20 percent offered gay, lesbian and bisexual protections, but not transgender protections. And about 40 percent had bullying policies, but did not mention LGBT specifically, the report said.

Advocates say such policies pave the way for creating a school culture of inclusion and acceptance.

“These policies are literally the foundation of any anti-bullying work a school district does,” said Nate Monson, executive director of Iowa Safe Schools.

Lawmakers reached Wednesday said they will continue to seek stronger anti-bullying laws in the next legislative session, which they say could continue to help all students facing harassment.

“Anytime we can protect kids in the school environment, the better,” said Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, who teaches at Maquoketa High School.

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Jimmy Centers, the spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad, said legislation has been proposed but failed to pass for the last three years.

“We’re going to be reviewing our options moving forward, to ensure very child has a safe and secure learning environment,” he said.

But when asked about administrative rule-making — some LGBT advocates say the existing 2007 law needs more clarity — Centers did not specifically address that possibility.

“It would help with things like clarifying the reporting process,” said Monson. “(The law) requires that schools report incidents, but what qualifies as a reportable incident and what doesn’t? That needs to be laid out. It requires investigation, what’s an investigation?”

Hupp said she couldn’t speak to why rules were not created for the 2007 law, but that in general, they’re created when the law calls for them, or when the statute is vague and needs additional clarity in order to implement.

But she said the department offers school districts support through sample policies and training materials on its website.

Protecting students

The 2007 Safe Schools Law protects all students from bullying and harassment, and specifically outlines the following characteristics that are protected: