Iowa public schools have a new database to report and track bullying incidents in detail as they happen throughout the year.
The Iowa Department of Education launched the database on Friday. The state has relied on one annual set of reports, logged under four labels, each spring to track bullying in schools. That was prompted in 2007 by a state anti-bullying and anti-harassment law.
The new database will have schools report bullying based on one or more of 17 student traits explicitly named in state law, including sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability or political belief.
