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A smattering of Iowa school districts has failed to add sexual orientation and gender identity to district policies as required by the state’s anti-bullying laws, according to a private foundation tracking the issue.
“If they’re not able to update their policies, then how on earth are they protecting the students?” said Rich Eychaner of the Eychaner Foundation, which surveyed schools on their compliance recently.
An official from the Iowa Department of Education said school districts must adhere to anti-bullying laws passed in 2007, but the department has not compiled any data about whether districts are in compliance.
Rich Eychaner and Michael Bowser, of the Eychaner Foundation
The state’s anti-bullying law protects students against bullying by other students, staff and volunteers on the basis of age, color, creed, national origin, race, religion, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical attributes, physical or mental ability or disability, ancestry, political party preference, political belief, socioeconomic status, or familial status.
The law also requires districts to report bullying incidents to the Iowa Department of Education, among other things. All public and private school districts were required to update their anti-bullying policies as of Sept. 1, 2007.
“It would be advantageous if the department of education would [survey all districts]” Eychaner said. “It’s because the department of education does not do that that we did our survey.”
The foundation, which also provides scholarships to gay students, sent a questionnaire and prepaid return envelope to 364 Iowa school districts. The foundation asked districts for copies of their anti-bullying policies. The foundation posted the results on its Web site.
Eychaner, who also is a member of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, said some school administrators and school board members have viewed adding language that protects gay and lesbian students as too controversial. Some districts have crossed out or deleted gender identity and sexual orientation from the policies they mailed in, he said.
“For whatever reason that school district, school board or superintendent believes that it’s controversial in their community, and they just aren’t interested in having it in there,” Eychaner said.
About 79 percent of public districts and 40 percent of private schools returned the questionnaire to the foundation. According to its report released earlier this month, some school districts have failed to comply:
* About 6 percent of public schools and 9 percent of private schools did not include sexual orientation in district policies.
* 9 percent of public schools and 11 percent of private schools did not include gender identity.
In southern Iowa, the Lineville-Clio School District in Lineville has five red check marks by its name on the foundation’s Web site. The check marks indicate the district’s noncompliance in adding sexual orientation and gender identity to its policies. It also failed, according to the foundation, to address how bullying data will be collected, as well as public reporting and training. The foundation deemed the district compliant in the area of complaint procedure.
“I don’t think there’s anything we’re trying to leave out or guard against,” said Mike Snyder, a principal in the district. “It’s just an honest mistake.”
The policy the district submitted to the foundation and policies on the district’s Web site offer protection for some groups but don’t include sexual orientation and gender identity, among others. Under a section on the district’s Web site called “District Belief and Goal Statement,” it states: “Promoting an orderly school environment in which all students regardless of sex, race, ability, or socioeconomic status have the opportunity to achieve academically as high a level as possible.”
Snyder said the district is in the middle of trying to get a new superintendent and updating the policies likely got “lost in the shuffle.”
“The law is clear
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