URBANDALE, Iowa — Some school districts around the state are changing school policy after changes were made by lawmakers at the state level.

Earlier this year the Iowa Republican majorities in both chambers were able to take out gender identity as a protected class in state civil rights code. That change has led to some districts changing policy around gender identity, and some groups are saying this pre-emptive move does not have to happen.

“So, a number of districts have considered policy change as a pre-emption of the state, but is absolutely not necessary,” said Damian Thompson, the Director of External Affairs at Iowa Safe Schools. “So we’ve seen West Des Moines, Johnston, Ankeny, Linn Mar, Iowa City, a number of school districts that have actively considered this and voted it down for the betterment of students and inclusion of all kids. And that’s what we are asking the Urbandale School Board to do tonight, there is no legal requirement … we have home rule here in the state of Iowa and we’re allowed to extend protections to any protected class that might need them.”

According to the school board work session agenda, the members are reviewing several changes. The first readings for the district’s bullying and nondiscrimination policies for students and hiring policies for staff.

The new draft of the nondiscrimination policy for students takes out gender identity as a basis of discrimination. There is another policy that removes that for the hiring or retaining of school staff. There are changes to the bullying and harassment policies as well, that draft strikes all the types of classes from the definition of bullying.

All of these policies will have to be considered at a future meeting if they are advanced through tonight.

“Whenever state and/or federal laws change that impact Board Policy, the District reviews guidance from the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) and consults with legal counsel as needed. Policy revisions are then brought to the Board for review and are open to the public to provide feedback. The policy, revisions, and feedback are then shared with the Board for consideration. At the next regularly scheduled Board Meeting, there is a second reading of the policy and the Board may vote to approve, deny, or modify the proposed policy revisions. There are a number of policies going to the Board for the second reading during tonight’s Board Meeting, including the Multi-Cultural Gender Fair Policy. Revisions for that specific policy are based on IASB recommendations and legal guidance.“

Dena Claire, Coordinator of District Communications, Urbandale Community School District

The Multi-Cultural Gender Fair policy removes references to gender identity in the program. Since it is the second reading of the change, it will become official policy if passed. There is also a second reading for removing removing curriculum requirements around HIV, AIDS, HPV and the HPV vaccine. That stems from a law passed by Iowa lawmakers in 2024, something Iowa Safe Schools says the district does not need to do.

“It (state law) just requires that the state Iowa core standards, which again are at the state level, do not mandate this,” said Thompson. “But if the individual districts or educators want to be teaching this in their schools, they are more than welcome to. So there is no reason for the change and it’s only going to negatively affect students.”

The board also looks to lock in the new district-wide cellphone restriction policy at the meeting tonight. You can watch the meeting here at this link.