Iowa House bill would prevent discipline for calling teachers, students the incorrect name
By Amanda Rooker
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IOWA (KCCI) — Some Iowa House Republicans advanced a new bill Monday that would prevent teachers, students and school staff from facing disciplinary action if they address another staff member or student by their legal name, instead of their nickname or any other name they prefer to go by.
HF 2139 passed out of an Iowa House subcommittee hearing in a 2-1 vote Monday.
Eight-year-old Lily Bjorklund shared her story as a transgender elementary school student with lawmakers at the hearing. She told stories of getting teased during recess when teachers weren’t around. Other students would threaten to yell her old name at her if she didn’t do what they wanted.
“Teachers are the only ones who can protect me,” Bjorklund said. “I can’t imagine if the teachers were the ones bullying me. I would have no one to protect me. I don’t understand why leaders who are supposed to protect kids would make a law that hurts me and so many others, a law that actually protects bullies.”
Others, like Nathan Arnold with Professional Educators of Iowa, said the bill is necessary for career protection.
“It can be confusing to memorize individualized pronouns for all of the dozens and even hundreds of students a teacher has, so they need a safe haven to know, ‘If I use this name, I’m safe,'” Arnold said. “A school will say, ‘Well, if we just fire such and such teacher, maybe the controversies will go away,’ and that’s why protections such as this are so important. So that teachers do have that career protection.”
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