Meeting Public Comments

Amy Dea

I am in favor of this bill. Investigations currently are being done by the school and I believe that is biased and faulty. Lets HHS investigate these abuses. This seems like common sense to me.

Courtney Collier

Please vote YES on HF186. When there is reported abuse of a child at the hands of a school employee, there must be an outside entity that investigates in order to keep it honest and to protect the child. It is very telling that no surrounding state allows schools to investigate themselves. This bill would also make sure that the BOEE and DOE is notified and the district involved properly handles the accused employee. We must protect our children in Iowa, even while at school, from abusers. Allowing a school to handle their own cases of reported abuse is wreckless and quite frankly foolish. It allows for concealment and we have seen several recent cases of this in Iowa. We have the power to stop it with this bill.

Matt Rollinger

As a former school board member, I am writing to express my strong support for H.F. 186. In my time on the board, I witnessed firsthand the efforts made by some school districts to cover up serious violations, including child abuse allegations involving school employees. This bill is a necessary step in ensuring that schools are held accountable and that the safety and wellbeing of students remain a top priority.The provisions outlined in H.F. 186 are crucial in establishing transparency and accountability. The requirement to report allegations of child abuse to both the Department of Human Services (HHS) and law enforcement is vital in ensuring that proper investigations are conducted. It is critical that schools cannot hide or downplay such serious accusations. Requiring administrative leave for employees under investigation for child abuse, along with restricting their access to school property, helps to protect children while the investigation is ongoing.From my experience, I saw the difficult and often delayed responses to abuse allegations, sometimes due to concerns over public image or the reputation of the district. This bill is an important step toward removing those barriers and putting the safety of students first. No child should have to endure harm, and no employee should be allowed to remain in a position where they may cause further harm while an investigation is pending.I urge lawmakers to pass H.F. 186 and support stronger protections for children in our schools. We must take every measure to ensure that child abuse is reported and investigated swiftly, transparently, and thoroughly.Thank you for your consideration.

Rick Phillips [PELLA PAC]

We support the passage of HF186 with the following considerations. An outside agency investigating child abuse by faculty or employees of a school is needed. But what about the sheriffs department being involved? Child abuse is a criminal act. And if found guilty, shouldnt the penalty be doubled for those licensed and entrusted with children? If fines and penalties are doubled in road work zones for the safety of road workers, shouldnt this same logic apply to protecting the safety of children? A ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Maybe the bar for employment at schools could be raised by making employee applicants more aware of the penalties associated with criminal child abuse and what that is defined as? As a perquisite, a prospective employee should sign off on what will happen if such crimes are committed. This is needed because of the counterculture spoiling generations of peoples perception of criminal child abuse and covering it up. We support passing HF186 as the framework of something that can be improved.

McKenzie Vuichard

I am in favor of passing this bill. Please move forward!

Chelsea Newton

I strongly support the passing of this Bill and quite frankly would not understand how any person would be opposed to such Bill. This Bill is strong in accountability and offers a barrier of protection of children. Allegations of abuse in any manner should always be taken seriously and investigations of alleged abuse needs to be completed by individuals who hold no relationship or knowledge of the accused individual(s). Investigations absolutely need to be bipartisan. I have seen Linn Mar simply choose to not renew contracts of individuals who absolutely need terminated and their license revoked. I have seen parents who have had to escalate, follow up with state, and push to have abuse looked into. This is not okay. Parents and their children to school with the understanding that their child will be safe. In the event something does happen, a parent shoukd not have to continuously push for proper investigation to be completed. And also in this case, the parent then had to work to ensure this teachers license was revoked, meaning Linn Mar failed to do the right thing out of fear of bad press, costs, and time. This is not okay. This Bill is necessary as it will prevent that staff member from being able to pack their belongings and head down the road to the next district where additional harn and damage is inevitable. Please consider passing this Bill. Voting no on something like this truly shows failure of truly wanting to protect children at all costs and will be noted.

Allison Vial

I am writing to express my strong support for HF 186, a crucial piece of legislation that will help protect students and hold schools accountable for addressing serious allegations, including child abuse by school employees.As someone deeply invested in education and student safety, I have seen how some school districts prioritize reputation over transparency, leading to delayed or inadequate responses to abuse allegations. This bill is an essential step toward ensuring that student safety comes first, without the interference of institutional selfpreservation.Requiring that allegations of child abuse be reported to both the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and law enforcement is a necessary safeguard to ensure that cases are investigated properly and without bias. Additionally, placing employees under investigation on administrative leave and restricting their access to school property is a critical measure to protect students from potential further harm while investigations are ongoing.The reality is that schools should never be allowed to handle abuse allegations behind closed doors or downplay their severity. This bill will help remove obstacles that have historically allowed schools to evade accountability and, most importantly, will prioritize the safety and wellbeing of students above all else.I urge you to support HF 186 and take this important step toward greater transparency and stronger protections for children in our schools. Thank you for your consideration.

Laura carlson Laura carlson

I speak in favor of this bill. Our community has had several abuses not be reported to enforcement as the principal went to superintendent for final decision. This is wrong. As a mandatory reporter myself, all instances must be reported to proper authority not kept "in house".

Dayna McHone

I am in favor of HF 186. Please pass. Thank you

Liz L

I'm in favor of this bill and think it's a bit nuts we aren't already doing everything we can to protect children. These school staff are not trained to investigate child abuse allegations in general let alone against their peers/coworkers.

Heather Tucker [Parent]

Please enact! My child with AuDHD was traumatically abused by DCSD employees between the years of 20162018. We never received appropriate compensation, nor appropriately advised on how to ensure our child was to remain protected. To this day, we still fight for his rights to not be taken from him by DCSD Administrators.