Hawkeye Reporter

Iowa state Sen. Jake Chapman (R-Adel) crossed district lines earlier this week to attend an Urbandale district school board meeting and call for teachers to be prosecuted as felons for distributing books he calls obscene.

State Senate President Chapman attended Monday's school board meeting to voice his opposition to the books, the Des Moines Register reported in a news story Nov. 23. Chapman called for the criminal penalties for school staff who distribution the "obscene" books, according to the news story.

"If this can't be shown on the five o'clock news, why is it OK for our children to have access to it in the safest environment they should be in?" the news story quoted Chapman saying during the meeting public comment.

Chapman repeated his claims in a Facebook post.

"These are teachers of Johnston School District who are defending the distribution of what I believe to be obscene material and what I believe to be in violation of state law," Chapman said in his Facebook post. "These are also our so called 'mandatory reporters.'"

Chapman said he also is putting his political muscle behind his assertions.

"Our schools should be one of the safest environments, it's for that reason I have legislation being drafted to create a new felony offense under Iowa Code 728," he said in his Facebook post. "There will also be additional mechanisms to force prosecutions or allow civil remedies."

About a dozen people, including Chapman, parents and students, also spoke during Monday's meeting, claiming that some books being distributed are obscene, even pornographic, and should not be made available to students. The Des Moines Register identified "All Boys Aren't Blue," an essay collection about growing up queer and Black, and "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," a novel about a Native American teenager, as among the books Chapman and others find objectionable. In a previous news story, the Des Moines Register also listed "The Hate U Give," about a girl living in a poor and mostly black neighborhood who attends a mostly white prep school and who witnesses the police killing of her childhood best friend, as another book found objectionable.

In a follow-up Facebook post on Saturday, Nov. 20, Chapman called on the Des Moines Register to post details from the books that he finds obscene.

"What's blatantly missing from this article?" Chapman said in that Facebook post that linked to another Des Moines Register news story about the controversy. "Answer: The actual language and pictures contained in these books! I'm calling on the Des Moines Register to publish the objectionable images and language found in these books! Let that sink in. Why won't they or why can't they publish the language and pictures?"

Chapman has represented Iowa's 10th State Senate District since shortly after his election in 2012, when there was no incumbent running because of redistricting. At 28, Chapman became the youngest state senator to be elected and served in the 85th General Assembly.

This past November, Chapman was again re-elected, taking more than 62% of the vote to defeat his Democrat challenger Warren Varley. Also in November, Chapman's GOP colleagues elected him Senate President, the second-most powerful role in the chamber behind the Majority Leader Jack Whitver (R-Ankeny), succeeding previous President Charles Schneider, a West Des Moines Republican who did not seek reelection.