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Home Education Magazine
May-June 2003 - Articles and Columns
Taking Charge - Larry and Susan Kaseman
Practical Ways to Claim Responsibility for Our Homeschools
The key ways we can maintain our homeschooling freedoms is by making it clear both to ourselves and to public officials that the responsibility for our homeschools is ours and not theirs. If we are going to maintain our independence, we need to think and act like independent homeschoolers. This column discusses some specific, practical ways we can both minimize the amount of information that government officials have about our homeschools and make a strong statement to ourselves as well as to them that we are capable, willing, and determined to take responsibility for our homeschools. It includes ways we can use specific statutes without needing to be an attorney or hire one. (However, it is important to remember that existing statutes provide the necessary basis for accomplishing this, and it would be a mistake to seek new legislation to make this easier.)
Refusing to Answer Surveys from School Districts
As soon as school officials acknowledged the existence of modern homeschooling, they began sending surveys to homeschoolers, seeking more information about us and ideas for ways to get us involved in public schools, so we would enrich their enrollment totals and their budgets. These surveys are generally informal, poorly constructed attempts by local school officials to "do something" about homeschoolers, and perhaps to learn something from us. Questions frequently cover our reasons for homeschooling, resources and approaches to education we use, and what (if anything) the district could offer that would entice us to enroll/re-enroll our children in public schools.
Many homeschoolers simply ignore such surveys, which is a good first step. Even better is explaining to other homeschoolers that they do not need to respond to such surveys and, in fact, refusing to respond helps maintain our independence. This topic can be discussed at support group meetings, in support group newsletters, on email loops and bulletin boards, etc. Homeschoolers who want to communicate this point to school officials can write to the person who sent the survey. We can explain that the information requested on the survey is not required by law, so in order to maintain our responsibility for our homeschools and our independence of public schools, we are not supplying it.
Using the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
We can also explain that the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits schools from using our names and addresses (called directory data) to mail out surveys (or for other purposes) without notifying us and/or gaining our consent. (For details about FERPA, see the U. S. Department of Education's web site at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OM/fpco/ or call 202-260-3887.)
Obtaining Our Children's School Records
Those of us who begin homeschooling after our children have attended a conventional school should get either the original set of our children's records or at least a copy of them. This is especially important since recent legislation has weakened provisions that protect the privacy of student records. In addition, collaboration among government agencies has increased the kinds of records that can be released to other government agencies. If we can get the original set of records, so that the conventional school no longer has records, our family's privacy is more secure, and we have reduced the probability that information about our children will be transferred to other agencies and perhaps used against us. If the best we can do is obtain a copy of our children's records (which is often easier than getting the originals), we at least know most of what is contained in them, and we can act to have inaccurate and unfair records corrected and to do as much as the law allows to protect our privacy and prevent the records from being released to individuals or agencies.
Student records are often classified into several categories, some of which are easier to obtain than others. We need to be careful that the school doesn't give us one set of records and not mention that they have others they are not releasing to us.
? Straightforward factual information (sometimes called "directory data") includes items such as a student's name, address, phone, date and place of birth, height and weight of athletes, degrees and awards received, etc.
? Academic records (sometimes called "progress records") include courses completed and grades earned, attendance records, immunization records, extracurricular activities, etc.
? Personal records (sometimes called "behavioral records") include psychological tests, personality evaluations, records of conversations, reports of individual students' behavior, and test scores, etc.
? Physical health records include immunization records, results of routine screenings, emergency medical cards, etc.
Obvious as it is to us that we should be given our children's records when they are no longer attending a conventional school, school officials often do not see it that way. It may help to understand their objections, which may include the following.
? Officials are accustomed to transferring records to institutions that have more than one family. They sometimes claim that homeschooling parents may not be qualified to interpret or use certain records. For these and/or other reasons, districts may claim that they cannot transfer the originals to homeschools because they are not really "schools." We can point out that homeschools are subject to the compulsory school attendance law and carry out the functions of a school and, therefore, are the "schools of record."
? Officials may be concerned about maintaining records, especially for children who have been involved with the judicial system or social services, since school officials may be asked to provide these records at some future date. We can explain that since our children will no longer be attending their school, it is no longer the school of record and should not hold the records.
? Officials may claim that they need to keep the records in case students decide to re-enroll. We can explain that their school is no longer the school of record and officials should not try to take this kind of responsibility for students not enrolled in their school.
Release of student records to parents and others is governed by federal and state statutes. Given the likelihood that school officials will be surprised and quite possibly unwilling to release the records, we can strengthen our request by including references to the statutes and quotes from them. To find state statutes that govern the release of student records, we can call our state legislators and request copies of the statutes or go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html#state, click on our state, and do a search for "student records" or "pupil records".
In sum, to obtain our children's student records, we can write a letter to the school or school district. We can explain that our homeschool is now our children's "school of record" and ask that the original set of all of their records be sent to us. If state statutes require that records be sent to a school making such a request within a certain period of time, we can ask that they be sent within that time. We can include references to the statutes and quotes to support our request. When we receive the original set of our children's school records, or at least a copy, we have demonstrated to ourselves and to school officials that we (rather than they) are responsible for our homeschool.
Recording Contacts With Public Officials
We can take increased responsibility for our homeschools by keeping detailed records of our contacts with public officials. If the contact develops into a conflict, documentation will be important and will help people who are assisting us, including friends, other homeschoolers, the media, legislators, attorneys, etc. Documentation also lets officials who are contacting us know that they are dealing with someone who knows their rights under the law and who will be thorough. This may deter officials who might otherwise try to take advantage of a situation without due cause, but it does not threaten officials who are on solid, professional footing.
Designing a form on which to record the information can be a good way of making sure we gather the pertinent information and can make it easier to record and retrieve it. Such a form could include the following:
Date
Name, address, phone number, email address of person filling out the form
Name, address, phone number, email address of support people present (spouse, friend, attorney, witness, etc.)
Name, title, agency, address, phone number, email address of person we contacted or who contacted us
Type of contact (phone, email, letter, in person, other)
Date, time, and place of contact
Reason for contact
Summary of what happened
Attachments (letters, emails, longer summaries, media coverage, etc.)
Using the Open Records Law
When dealing with state and local school officials and other public officials, we may need to find out what information the officials have about our homeschool or other aspects of our family's life. Or we may need information about pending policy changes or legislative bills or actions local school districts or state officials have been engaged in. If officials won't surrender this information voluntarily, we can use the Federal Freedom of Information Act and our state's equivalent (sometimes called open records laws) to get it. These laws are designed to guarantee public access to public documents. Although specifics vary from state to state, generally any document sent to or produced by a public employee is a public document unless it is specifically protected under confidentiality provisions of the statutes. Since public school officials are obviously public employees, we can use this law when necessary to get copies of documents officials have produced or received.
For example, open records laws might be used if officials were doing research or surveys that affect homeschoolers or collecting stories or anecdotal evidence about homeschoolers, especially if there were reason to think that these stories might be one-sided or present only negative evidence. In such a case, we could use open records laws to gain access to the materials in officials' files, documents produced by officials (including reports they have written), and letters sent to them (such as reports from neighbors) or letters they sent. Having this information allows us to work to correct inaccurate or misleading information, provide balance or clarification, or plan other strategies for dealing with the situation, including such actions as publishing a summary in homeschooling newsletters, writing letters to the editor, requesting investigations by legislative audit committees, etc.
It helps to realize that even though we homeschoolers have a legal right to these public documents, public officials may react negatively or resist giving us the information. They are not accustomed to being subject to these statutes and may not even be aware of the openness the statutes require. Our requests for public documents may go more smoothly and be more successful if we are polite but firm and cite or quote open records laws. Also, certain working drafts of documents are not subject to open records laws, and names and addresses may need to be removed from some documents before they are released to protect the privacy of private citizens included in the documents. It is important to put requests in writing and word them so that they describe the subject specifically but are broad enough to include all types of documents that may be helpful. There may be a copying and processing fee.
Getting Out of Data Bases or Locking Information About Us
We can either have our names removed from data bases or have information about our families "locked." (Examples include state immunization registries, information about people who have drivers licenses, information from birth certificates, etc.) Logically but somewhat ironically, sometimes our privacy is more secure if we have our names entered in a data base with a note indicating that information about us is "locked" and cannot be released. This prevents information about our family from being entered at some future date and then released because there was no indication it should not be released.
Conclusion
We can minimize the information that public officials have about our homeschools by refusing to participate in surveys that are not required by statute and by getting out of data bases or ensuring that the information about our families is "locked" so that it cannot be distributed. We can minimize the damage that is done by information the government already has by obtaining records from time our children spent in public school before we began homeschooling and by using open records laws to find out what information the government has. When we do these things, we confirm for ourselves and show others that we have responsibility for our homeschools and are living up to that responsibility.
© 2003 Larry and Susan Kaseman
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May-June 2003 - Articles and Columns
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