by Eleanora Glick
As the school year gets underway and we return to more structured schedules and routines, we have to follow rules. However, this year, the rules seem to be making school a more dangerous place to be, especially for trans and gay students.
We have a family friend who teaches high school English in Iowa. Here are just a few of the new rules our friend must follow this year on the job:
- All books with sex are banned at all grade levels
- Students must be called by the name provided at registration and no other
- If a student requests to be called by another name or use a different pronoun, this must be reported to parents
- If a student asks to use a single-person bathroom, this must be reported to parents
Most troubling of all, our friend has been told that she is no longer allowed to ask if her students are okay, or otherwise inquire about their wellbeing.
Just as in California, Iowa’s teachers are mandated reporters of child abuse that they reasonably believe has occurred based on contact with the child within the scope of 
their professional work. Being a mandated reporter means that if someone is being abused, is suicidal, wanting to hurt others and such, they have to report it to the proper authorities and the parents if they are under 18. Abuse is not always visible, same with suicidal thoughts. Not everyone who is being abused has physical markings and not all people with suicidal thoughts harm themselves visibly. How are teachers supposed to report these things when they are prohibited from asking a child questions about their well-being?
My fear with such policies is that someone is going to die. Someone is going to kill themselves because no one asked if they were okay, or checked up on them, or simply tried to reach out. When I was 13, I was very depressed. I was suicidal and wanting to end it all. I had a plan in my head, I was going to write goodbye letters to people I was friends with, and then go home and end it. But, that specific day, I was called into the counselor’s office and asked if everything was okay. I broke down and told her everything. I’m alive today because somebody asked me if I was okay.
In addition to the obviously dangerous policy that teachers cannot ask students what is wrong, another big issue is, of course, the treatment of queer students. This is essentially bullying. This is bullying by school districts and education leaders, by way of rules that place unnatural burdens on teachers. Teachers are supposed to call students by names they may not want, using pronouns they may not want, and if they want a change, it has to be reported to the parents. Unfortunately, some parents are not very tolerant and could very well be transphobic and homophobic. This can easily put many children in horrific danger.
Under the guise of extending more rights to parents over their child’s education, Iowa lawmakers passed a set of laws that seem to suggest that by controlling conversations at school they can force students into heteronormativity. By refusing to facilitate, engage and have conversations about identity, we are fostering a hostile environment to children who are developing their sense of self.
Whether you agree or disagree on trans and gay issues, I think we can all agree that our children deserve safety. They deserve safety and understanding in the school environment. Our kids deserve the right to know that their teachers can ask if they are okay. They need to know that it is safe for them to go to their teachers and counselors. School is just too dangerous for them otherwise.
Thank you Eleanora for another insightful student opinion. I agree that Iowa’s draconian approach to public education will lead to numerous entirely preventable student deaths. This is unquestionably the work of the Nazi right wing fascists of the infamous Moms for Liberty. Republicans seek to turn America backwards in to the Victorian Age. They must be stopped.