During the summer sparked by protests of Kenneth James Weishuhn's and other suicides that happened, we had the opportunity to review the states new bill called H.F. 2444 in Iowa. After some review of the bill, it became apparent that there is little concern with detainment of parents who are actively looking to work with the schools, and counseling is a part of the bill that has issues, or a lack of presence. The concern of the state seems to be one of locking people up, no times on community service, which opens the door to corrupt judges and DA's to set what they wish for punitive time. There are vague issues in the bill that we cannot support at this time, and we will not even list it on our site. Parents should do active research on this bill, to ensure you know where you stand when and if it passes the house and senate as it stands. I do not agree with government issuing licenses to punish that are like open-ended checks that are blank for the DA or court to write in what they feel is appropriate. It starts off at 40 hours and no mention of time-frame thereafter (your open check is blank, write what you want there). I view this as irresponsible activity stemming from the house of representatives, and view the bill as a slapped together bunch of wording. We encourage the state to continue to seek input on the bill but, as it stands, we cannot support it the way it is written. We are always for something that stands to improve the educational environment, but this does nothing to punish would-be violators of children in the school environment, and while many say hold the parent responsible, which has merit to it, the child should also be held accountable equally for abuses committed against another child victim.
