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Homeschool families in two different states are facing increased scrutiny from local officials that critics are calling an invasion of privacy.
To make matters worse, local officials in Kentucky and Mississippi are making demands of homeschool families that could be in violation of state laws.
The director of pupil personnel in Gallatin County, Kentucky, sent out letters informing parents that “in the coming year, county officials would visit the home of every homeschool program,” said T.J. Schmidt, a staff attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).
The letter demanded a wide variety of information, including attendance records and report cards, each of which are required. But it went beyond that.
“It asked parents to indicate whether they specifically intended to follow the local school calendar,” Schmidt wrote. “It also insisted that parents inform the school district about how they were going to keep attendance records and how their instructional days would be documented.
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The requests, he said, “exceeded the school’s authority under Kentucky law.”
The director backed down after receiving a letter from Schmidt.
“Schmidt informed [the director] that the forms requested information well beyond that required under Kentucky law,” an HSDLA press release noted. “He also informed the county that home visits would violate each homeschooling individual’s privacy rights, and that HSLDA would challenge any attempt to carry out these visits. Schmidt requested that the county notify all homeschool families that they would be dropping these extra-legal requirements.”
The county agreed with Schmidt, and letters were sent to homeschool families telling them to ignore the packet they had just received.
Illegal Demands in Mississippi
Meanwhile, a school official in Adams County, Mississippi (Natchez) also made illegal demands of homeschoolers, another HSLDA press release charges.
Mississippi state law requires homeschoolers to fill out a certificate of enrollment and turn it into an official called the attendance officer. When an unidentified mother in Natchez approached the local attendance officer for the certificate, she was told she would have to produce receipts indicating she had purchased textbooks and other educational materials, even though that is not required by the law.
“I want proof so I know that you’re homeschooling,” the attendance officer allegedly said. “Some people say they’re going to homeschool and then don’t.”
The mother contacted HSDLA, and senior counsel Dewitt Black sent the attendance officer a letter stating that the receipts were not required by state law. Further, Black wrote, “should you refuse to provide [our member] with the enrollment form and thereby prevent her from complying with the law, you will have waived the requirement that this form be completed and submitted to you.”
A few days later, the officer called Black back and offered to drive to the mother’s home and deliver the certificate in person.
It looks that in some locations, homeschooling is becoming far more difficult than it once was.
Do you believe homeschooling has too much government regulation, just enough, or not enough?
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I tell people who have children to get a locking screen/storm door on your house, and get a big dog!
Unfortunately, that won’t help. Next time, they’ll bring the police, who will shoot the dog, and then break down the door.
Think I’m kidding? It has happened before, and it will happen again.
Welcome to the new USSA.
I’m not sure if the USA has dumped Common Law in the trash as they are trying to do here in the UK, but the truth is that you need not even speak to ‘officials’. The whole system relies upon the creation of the ‘legal name’, the name on the birth certificate. If your child has a birth certificate, it means you have sold him to the government in return for a piece of paper. Disavow the name, repudiate Admiralty Law statutes and claim your freedom immediately. The state, the crown, the government – call it what you will – has no authority whatsoever over humans, but only over corporate names. If some meathead turns up at your door demanding information on your children, have him arrested for harassment and attempted kidpap.
From what I have seen of home schooling, and I know numerous people that have or are home schooling their children, it is the best education available. Second is Schooling done by the DOD school system, which I had the pleasure of being involved in when the DOD started the School system in Guam. My only regret today is that I allowed my children to attend public schools because my wife and I didn’t think we were smart enough to home school the kids. I personally believe that the best education available would be the one room schools of when my parents went to school. from what my father tells of his schooling, it sounds like home schooling but with 20 neighborhood kids attending instead of 3-400.
People say you don’t get the social skills, BS, i remember the big kids on the school bus teaching the downs syndrome child that rode our bus all kinds of bad habits. Swearing, flipping everyone the bird, etc… that was in the 70’s when they forced the kids with learning disabilities to go to public schools. My children survived the public school system, but i wish to this day they didn’t have to be subjected to it at all.
Let’s look at what children can expect from “public education”. . .
–cliques and marginalization of students by jocks and other (preferred and coddled) groups.
–rampant bullying, with those who defend themselves against bullies punished, quite often more severely than the actual bullies, who are quite often jocks and other preferred students,
–insane school officials and their zero tolerance policies for breakfast snacks shaped like guns, ”
–values clarification” and “anything goes” sex “education”,
–rampant drug use,
–ineffective teaching methods and pushing Marxist, environmentalist points of view along with misleading students about basic Constitutional principles and social promotions. . .
–let’s not forget “lockdowns” like prisons . . .
If this is what is expected in public schools, sending your children to these “indoctrination centers” is tantamount to child abuse.
Amen, Brother!
Of course kids need to be educated, at least in the necessities like reading, writing, arithmetic. How did it ever become compulsory that kids go to a bureaucratic run system like public schools? I’m way past having kids in schools but if I chose to home school my kids, it isn’t anybody’s business but mine.
the govt has already far exceeded any power that it has been given, the entire govt needs to be reigned in, maybe its time to try some leaders for treason in this country, this is the only cure i can see for the ills of this country.
i wouldnt bother at all anyone home schooling their children.
but…since the parents cant show their kids are educated…i would allow any business or government hiring to deny employment to any kid that does not have a recognized diploma.
racists religious fanatics and pervs want to keep what they do to their kids secret…..but…they should not expect to be taken at their word…regarding those secret activities.
Children who are homeschooled smash the public school kids in academics – time and time again.
But parents who want alternatives to the absolutely horrible public schools of today are considered by you to be “racists religious fanatics and pervs”. What in the hell is wrong with you?
Jackass.
Yes, the parents CAN demonstrate that their children are educated, and in fact they are required to do so in many states on a yearly basis through the submission of tests to their school board.
Equating a parent’s choice to educate their own children to “secret activities” in which the parents are suspected of child abuse before probable cause is found is much akin to the minset of a gestapo agent.
Aside from denying the right of private businesses to hire whom they wish based on the individual’s demonstration of skill and experience, what else are you advocating, Jomo? Tribunals for the perverted religious fanatics who dare to teach their own children?
Every so often I come across a guy like you on the net who feels quite comfortable baring his fangs at homeschoolers like myself while simultaneously demonstrating their lack of ability to punctuate a sentence. You must have suffered terribly at the hands of your public school teachers. Was it the drugs or did they give you one too many beatings in the locker room?
I am content to spend the rest of my life fighting against nazis like Jomo.
K
The public education system in every state has been compromised and taken over by the federal government and none of it is for the better, and all of it done under the no child left behind act.
Most state officials refuse to let go of the federal funding and take charge of their own schools and let teachers teach and allow for some real diversity in the education.
Right now they are dumbing down our kids and the thing is that government at every level in this country works for us, and we the people have the final say. The people can demand by petition to repeal or putting things on the ballot to be vote on by the people, this is something they hate as they have little control over the outcome.
None of the state and fed’s business. This and several other matters will lead to CIVIL WAR II, one day. We have enough GESTAPO in the USSA right now. Don’t need any more.
Home schoolers warn government. Prepare for visits …
Uh . . . Jeff . . . would you mind terribly removing your chin from the top of your own knee?
Perhaps you missed the quite recently released reports on SAT scores. Speak of isolated or anecdotal as some sort of proof if you wish, but try to do a little research first. Home-schooled and privately-schooled children do far better than their counterparts at gummint schools, where the exception are the few schools that actually teach the children.
http://www.pros-and-cons-of-homeschooling.com/homeschooling-vs-public-schools.html
Your kind, and your lack of logic is the problem. First of all lack of any proof of neglect negates any concern and therefore exposes one to being on a fishing expedition, where one should seek mental help for allowing their mind and feelings to control them in a way that has a negative effect on the family while predispositioning the children to be afraid due to their unwarranted assault on the basic and fundamental right for people to raise their offspring without being molested by the actors of the state operating under color of law. Furthermore had the state and federal actors performed their duties properly with the interest of the children being first and foremost, people would not be homeschooling.
However, since the record of the past 40 years reflects a sharp decline in IQ as well as a disconnect from reality, it is imperative that we take back the duty of education, so our children arent raised to be half wits.
Another thing to point out is that it is absolutley unfair to put all people in a group and then assault the group because some of your state welfare babies whose children have behavioral problems, are not doing the work.
That is like saying if any man is a rapist we should all be looked at as rapist, and therefore we should come up with regulations where we have to disprove an unwarranted claim so as to put your mind at ease.
Sounds to me like victims of abuse and neglect have been given the keys to get others to prove they arent the mother, father, creepy uncle or grandpa that caused their extreme form of paranoia.
It is absurd, just like you. Go raise your own children and leave mine out of it.
None of these corporate policies apply to living kids. Ignore the corporate state. So not use corporate persons. Google: legal name fraud.
Children are the sole responsibility of their parents or guardians, NOT the government. Should the govt fail to observe that fact, they’ll be facing the consternation of countless parents excising theirs and their children’s Constitutional rights as free human beings. Free human beings are not to be trifled with, our rights will not be infringed.Better learn that fast, tyrants.
LOL Jeff. You missed the part in the article where the school “exceeded it’s authority under Kentucky law.” The school went well above and beyond acquiring simple proof of homeschooling.
Your lack of critical thinking and basic reading comprehension is clearly the result of your public school education. lol.
It’s very clear that you are a product of public education, at least eight years. Profanity is the literary crutch of the inarticulate.
There are kids that are in the system that by the time they ‘graduate’ are unable to read, do basic math and are completely dependent on the system. Kids get harmed and abused at school by teachers and kids alike. We don’t assume our children are being abused at school, only when they are with their parents. Seems a little messed up to think the natural order of family is a crime. Anyway, isn’t this a matter of who owns your child and who has the rights to raise your kid?