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Sidebar:
Is There Hostility to Home Schoolers
In Haverhill?

February 2001

Is there an underlying hostility to home schooling among public school personnel? Apparently it varies by school district.

The administrators in the Haverhill schools assure MassNews that there is no hostility in their schools, but Gabriel’s nightmare occurred this year.

Haverhill School Department’s Dr. Kevin Lyons told Massachusetts News that there may have been hostility at one time in Haverhill, but the approach has changed in recent years due to court decisions such as Care and Protection of Charles (1987). Department of Education policy was written following that decision, giving guidelines to school administrators in their interaction with home schooling families.

Dr. Lyons, Executive Director of Student Services who handles interaction with home schools, had not yet joined the Haverhill school system two years ago when Mrs. Ricker contacted the school for information and received a hostile reaction. Haverhill now has a policy allowing home schoolers to use elementary school books if they are available, and allows home schooled children to participate in extracurricular activities like sports teams.

The Law
Massachusetts’ law, with which Mrs. Ricker was not familiar, states that home schooling requires submission of a proposed curriculum for approval by the local school department prior to withdrawing a child from the public school or not enrolling a child at age 6.

Operating an unapproved home school is a criminal offense (with a $20 fine if found guilty). But the charge can also be child neglect, involving a Care and Protection order, which involves DSS.

Policy in Haverhill
Following is the policy of the Haverhill schools. Other school districts might have stricter policies, but they should be easily obtained.

Mr. Buccini, truant officer for the Haverhill public schools, told Massachusetts News that he might receive information about a child not attending school from various sources, which include school personnel, agencies or anonymous sources. The policy of the schools, when they learn that a child is not attending school, is to contact the parents or guardians by phone or visit or by letter if that fails. They inform the parents that they are required to have a pre-approved plan to home school, what the parents should do and what the consequences are if they do not.

Dr. Arthur Tate, Superintendent of the Haverhill Public School System told Massachusetts News that the requirement to submit an educational plan is very easy to satisfy. It is a simple, easy-to-complete form that basically asks for an explanation of the educational plan, how many hours will be spent on it and what sort of assessment method will be used. He said it is almost impossible to deny approval. “You can’t arbitrarily deny it because you think the parents can’t do the job.”

Can’t Imagine Taking Child for Lack of Paperwork
When asked if he was aware of any cases where a child was removed from the home solely on the basis of not having an approved educational plan, Dr. Tate said: “I have only been here since June. I’m not aware of any such cases, but it’s a large district….I can’t imagine, personally, a child being removed just because they didn’t do the paperwork. We are supposed to do a personal call. We first call, then visit and ask, ‘What do you need?’ We could bring them to the school and help them complete the paperwork.”

If approval is denied, however, and the parents will not cooperate, then it is considered that the child is not being sent to school and it is turned over to the attendance (truant) officer.

Eventually DSS gets involved, but the schools try to make the first contact. When a “51A” report (charge of abuse) is made, DSS is required to investigate. “DSS decides if an abusive relationship is involved, on a case by case basis.”

Home School Defense
Scott Somerville, Staff Attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association, told Massachusetts News that once a criminal charge is filed, the burden shifts to the government to prove that the home school fails to equal “in thoroughness, efficiency, and in the progress made therein to the public schools in the same town.”

Since most people home school because they believe their local public school does not provide the best education for their child, they should easily be able to meet that standard and should have no fear of the school system. However, Attorney Somerville recommends that they join his organization (which is $100 per year) or have a competent lawyer represent them if they run into a problem.

The organization, which has 1600 families in Massachusetts on its rolls, can only represent its members in court, but it also tries to be supportive of non-member home schoolers who run into trouble. “Our purpose is to keep people out of court, not to get to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Somerville says.

He believes they are the only organization that has won several lawsuits against social workers for civil rights violations.