WDMCS Family Quick Guide to Legislation Content
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We want to provide WDMCS families with an overview of a few legislative decisions made in 2023 that impact public education. This information is intended to inform families of any changes we made as a school district. This communication is not intended to interpret the meaning behind legislation. As with many legislative decisions recently made that impact public school districts for 2023-24, we believe more detailed guidance from the Iowa Department of Education (IDOE) would provide clarity regarding implementation expectations for districts, details in areas of ambiguity, and consistency across the state.
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House File 602 — Student ID Cards
What is it?
Requires a crisis hotline and other information to be added to every student ID card.
What does this mean for WDMCS families?
LifeTouch addressed this need and added this to the back of all student ID cards.
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House File 604 — Student Behavior and Discipline
What is it?Expands the reporting requirements under Iowa Code section 279.51A requiring a classroom teacher to report any threat of violence or incident of violence made by a student that results in injury, property damage, or assault. It also requires parents/guardians acknowledge receipt of the student handbook.
What does this mean for WDMCS families?
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If an incident occurs that involves your student, the information will be reported to the school administrator and parents/guardians will be notified within 24 hours of receiving the report. WDMCS has communicated with families when situations occurred, but the legislation specifies the process for how information must be reported to parents/guardians.
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For handbooks, parents/guardians can log into Infinite Campus and click on a document to acknowledge receipt of student handbooks. (View brief tutorial)
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Senate File 496 — Education Omnibus, Parental Rights in Education
Senate File 496
What is it?States a parent or guardian bears the ultimate responsibility, and has the right, to make decisions affecting the parent's or guardian's minor child, including decisions related to the minor child's medical care, moral upbringing, religious upbringing, residence, education, and extracurricular activities.
What does this mean for WDMCS families?
This communication will not cover every item included in SF 496. However, we want to share our process regarding THREE topics.
Topic #1 Surveys
(surveys designed to assess a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health.)
One example is the Panorama Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Survey that the district asks students to complete each year. You will receive an email with a link to learn the purpose of the survey, view the questions, understand who created it, and how the information will be used. You will then be asked to log into Infinite Campus to either accept or decline the survey to be given to your student. You will need to do this for every student enrolled in WDMCS.
Other surveys may be given to students throughout the school year by the district, your student’s school, and/or your student’s teachers. Surveys that are designed to assess a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health would also require parent/guardian permission. How parents/guardians provide permission may vary, based on who is giving it.
Topic #2 Preferred Name
If a student asks the teacher to be called by a different name than what is listed in Infinite Campus and/or different pronoun, the teacher will contact their school administrator. The school administrators will then contact the parents/guardians. If the parent/guardian acknowledges the requested name and/or pronoun, this information will be updated in Infinite Campus. If the parent/guardian does not agree with the requested changes, the administrator, student, and family will work together to support the student.
WDMCS’ practice will be to follow this process for any requested nicknames that are not already recorded in Infinite Campus (example: Matthew to Matt). While we understand that this is broader than what is written in the law, we believe that this process and practice will ensure that we are accurately referring to all students by the correct name.
Topic #3: Library Books
WDMCS already established a comprehensive selection process during the 2022-23 school year for any new materials that may be added to a school or classroom library. This process ensures staff collaborate with each other and administration before a final decision is made.
This process expanded this school year to also include reviewing existing materials that either a parent/guardian brings to the attention of staff for review and/or a staff member becomes aware of a book that may not age-appropriate based on Iowa Code 256.11, section 19.
In addition, several WDMCS Board policies are in the process of being updated to align with recent legislation. Board Policy 605.02, Selection of Classroom Materials, and Board Policy 605.06, Challenged Materials — Instructional Materials and Classroom Libraries, will be presented to the Board of Education on Sept. 11 with recommended revisions.
