Iowa school district works to navigate new education law

This month, the Ballard Community School District sent an email to parents with a form asking for students' names, nicknames, pronouns and/or gender identities.The form was sent in an apparent effort to comply with Senate File 496, Iowa's new wide-ranging education law. The Republican-backed legislation addresses students using a name or pronoun different from the name or pronoun assigned to the student in the district's registration forms or records.District parent Nick Covington's take on Senate File 496 differs from the district's."I was a bit confused," Covington said. "There was nothing on there that said everybody would have to register their kid's nicknames and pronouns with the district, " Covington told KCCI the district said the form is mandatory and needs to be completed by the start of the new school year. KCCI reached out the Ballard Community School District Tuesday. They have not responded.The Republican-backed legislation goes beyond preferred names and pronouns in classrooms. It bans books depicting sexual acts in school libraries, with the exception of religious texts. It also bans teaching gender identity and sexual orientation concepts in kindergarten through sixth grade.You can see what's in the education law here.