DES MOINES, Iowa - A bill addressing K-12 classroom violence in Iowa is now a law.
Governor Kim Reynolds has signed the measure to provide more standards, guidelines and protections for teachers when students lash out in violence.
It limits the use of a process to calm a student having a violent outbreak by clearing all students from the classroom. It also create a grant program for "therapeutic classrooms," which would give an alternative setting for troubled students.
The bill passed the legislature almost unanimously after language allowing teachers to physically restrain students in certain circumstances was removed.
The change was in line with demands from Des Moines Black Lives Matter, which had said the language, "legalizes corporal punishment in Iowa public schools."
The bill was also amended to remove some immunity from disciplinary action for teachers who come into physical contact with a student.