On Wednesday evening, the Education Committee of the House met to discuss House File 8 which deals with prohibiting any instruction on gender identity or on sexual orientation to students from grades K-6 (amended).

As a former kindergarten teacher, I shared with my colleagues that we typically start the year with the students and their identity, but then move to the larger circle of their family. I shared the book, “The Family Book” by Todd Parr with the committee.

The book is illustrated with bright, vivid colors of people and animals who fit the descriptions on the pages. It is a beautiful and simple expression that it is OK to have a family that is different from others. It also affirms some things that all families feel, such as “All families are sad when they lose someone they love” or “All families like to celebrate special days together.”

One specific page I brought to the attention of my colleagues read, “Some families have two moms or two dads, some families have one parent instead of two.”

I asked my colleague, Rep. Skyler Wheeler, if this book would be appropriate to read to a kindergarten class. He stated that it would be OK to read to a class.

But the law states that “A school district shall not provide any program, curriculum, material, test, survey, questionnaire, activity, announcement, promotion or instruction of any kind relating to gender identity or sexual orientation to students in kindergarten through grade six (amended).”

This book brings up parents of the same sex. How can I read it to students to simply affirm their home situations?

Teachers are walking on glass to try and meet these requirements from what the laws state and what the legislators who are promoting these laws feel is appropriate. I sat on a subcommittee earlier in the week that proposed penalties for districts in which teachers overstepped their boundaries as outlined by the laws.

Not only are we not recognizing students where they are at in life, we are putting forth penalties for teachers and districts in which a teacher might say something that a parent or other official might feel is against this law.

The Education Committee of the Iowa House has been running on overdrive this year. First, we rushed the school voucher bill through the House on the 11th day of the session.

The following week, we set our new funding for public schools at only 3% despite requests from our superintendents that due to inflation and previous underfunding, we needed more to fill the gaps for our students. Now we are having to address a series of emotional and divisive topics in every committee meeting.

I was elected to represent all the people in my district, not just those who voted for me. This was the comment by one of the attendees of my listening post last Saturday.

One constituent quoted Rep. Skyler Wheeler in regard to ignoring the 78% of Iowans against the Vouchers for private school, “I don’t know where you got your numbers on your poll. We took a poll on Nov. 8, and we won by 20 points.”

I am not sure all my colleagues feel they are representing everyone in their districts.

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Sue Cahill, a Democrat from Marshalltown, represents District 52 in the Iowa House.