Massachusetts News
By Curt Lovelace

February 1--In the Northeast, school districts are much more important because the districts are much smaller than they are elsewhere, according to attorney Scott Somerville of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association.

Therefore, local support groups can have a much more significant effect on how homeschoolers are treated, says Somerville, who believes it is important for homeschool leaders to attend the organization’s Support Group Seminar on February 12.

Somerville, who specializes in Massachusetts home school law and has successfully represented several Massachusetts homeschooling families in court, tells Massachusetts News that school districts in the rest of the country tend to be county-wide and therefore may have millions of students. It is difficult for the local leaders to have much impact on the process in those huge districts. On the other hand, well-trained support group leaders can have an enormous impact in the smaller districts in Massachusetts and Connecticut, he says.

"Local support groups carry out the spirit and tradition of the New England town meetings and the Minutemen," Somerville said. They provide training, comfort and resources for both new and experienced homeschoolers, helping the new ones "to survive and the old ones to thrive." 

The support group seminars, which they also run in other parts of the country, are intended not just to arm homeschool leaders with legal and legislative information. They are also an opportunity for local leaders to come together and "recharge the batteries." Somerville explained that "We need to provide practical instruction on how to do the job and inspiration from people who have been successful." In addition to defending and informing homeschoolers, Somerville and his wife Marcia have already graduated two homeschooled children and are still teaching four at home.

One of the talks at the all-day seminar is titled, "What Parents Should Know About Child Welfare Workers." Given recent revelations regarding the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, Massachusetts News asked Attorney DeWitt Black about the content of his talk. He told us that the major thrust of his remarks will be aimed at how homeschoolers should handle investigations by social service organizations. Rather than dealing specifically with the social service agencies of any one state, Black will talk about federal law and constitutional protections.

Prominent in his presentation, Black said, will be a discussion about the Fourth Amendment and the protections it affords citizens. Particularly important is the discussion of unreasonable search and seizure and the circumstances under which authorities are legally allowed to enter a private home. 

Lawyers from his organization are currently handling a lawsuit against a social worker in California for illegal entry into a homeschooling family’s home. The social worker, an agent of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, sought entry to a home with no warrant and no "exigent circumstances." The homeowners would not consent to her entry so she called the sheriff’s department, which threatened the legal-homeschooling family that they would get a warrant. After gaining entry through coercion, the social worker interviewed the children, introducing sexual innuendo into the conversation. The trial is set for February 1, 2000.

The seminar will be held at the Publick House Historic Inn in Sturbridge on February 12, beginning at 8:30 a.m. For information call Dana Henry in Virginia. The number is 540-338-7600. Their website is at www.hslda.org.