Chicago Senator Maloney introduced a bill two years ago that would require homeschool registration with the Illinois State Board of Education.  Even after an estimated 4,000 homeschoolers showed up at the Capitol for an informational only hearing on this bill, Senator Maloney had a hard time letting the bill finally go.  After hearing Senate Education Vice-Chair Lightford’s interview responses related to her bill lowering the compulsory attendance age, I don’t think the super-majority party is done with homeschoolers yet.

The Illinois homeschooling community thought we sent a clear and fair message we did not want our freedoms tampered with, we were obviously doing just fine in educating our children. The public school system should correct their gulf of educational failure, rather than worrying about any perceived cracks in parent-directed educations.

Below is what Senator Lightford said in the WTTW interview in the last minute.   (more…)

Knowing your rights and responsibilities as a homeschooler is always a necessary component to living and learning in your community.  A few years ago, one New York family learned the consequences the hard way.  After emotional and expensive months of upheaval, the charges against them were dropped.  Now Margie Cressy is again going through the court system filing a civil rights lawsuit against Montgomery County, former Sheriff Department Investigator William Gilston and Sheriff Michael Amato.  The lawsuit specifies violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Constitutional Amendments.

GLEN : Home-schooling mother sues after facing charges The Daily Gazette - John Enger

 In the months that followed, Cressy claims, both Gilston and Sheriff Michael Amato made a series of knowingly false statements to the media before the case was dismissed.
She quoted an interview with the Gloversville Leader-Herald newspaper in which Amato said that Cressy “knowingly did not file the required paperwork with the local school district for seven years and could not provide adequate proof that the education of their children had taken place.”
She says these allegations were obviously not true, were dismissed by the courts and “were motivated by bad faith and malice.”

A Leader-Herald article [Mother Sues County - Arthur Cleveland] describing the lawsuit filed December 21 states this:

According to the complaint, former sheriff’s investigator William Gilston had threatened to “make an example” out of the family during the investigation, insulted those who home-schooled their children, and refused to meet the four children when offered the chance to meet them for an interview.

The local school superintendent contacted the Department of Social Services and in 2009, charges were filed against Margie and Richard Cressy, who homeschool their four boys.  In New York, homeschoolers are required to file notification forms with the local school district, along with a syllabus and quarterly reports.  For this Illinois homeschooler, these regulations sound like an utter nightmare, with no perceived learning benefits for the children.  Homeschoolers keep good track of their children’s educational progress and it is often done in an effective, but non-institutional manner.

But it is New York law. Onerous as it is.

Below is more information regarding the Cressy family situation.  The 2009 arrest drew national attention, as noted here at News & Commentary: Arrest Story Goes Viral

Sheriff Michael Amato’s letter to the Leader Herald.

Charges Dismissed  Leader-Herald Amanda Whistle

Parents found to be properly home-schooling four kids Judge tosses neglect case - Daily Gazette Edward Munger Jr

A three page article covers truancy charges against the Darby family from Palm Coast.  The case is set for a court hearing today.

Dayton Beach News-Journal By Annie Martin

Darby was slated to meet with school officials [last] Thursday to try to resolve the situation and avoid court, but the Darbys couldn’t be reached after the meeting. The couple said last week they “feel bullied by the school district” and that the proposed penalty is heavy-handed.

“I would like to see the matter worked out in a sensible way for both parties,” Darby said.

The Darbys withdrew their son from the school in 2010, but face the second-degree misdemeanor charge and the possibility of up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

After withdrawing their son from Rymfire, the Darbys sent him to first grade at Palm Harbor Academy, a Palm Coast charter school. The Darbys say both schools were fine but they felt their son needed a more tailored environment.

It appears the Darbys were unaware of the Florida state law requiring notification of intent to homeschool their son and annual academic progress evaluation. Their son is still officially enrolled in the Rymfire school. There another glitch in legal matters for the family too:

Darby also received additional charges of breaking school attendance laws for two older children. He and his wife recently became the legal guardians of two Flagler Palm Coast High School students who racked up more than 18 unexcused absences earlier this year. The girls missed school because of Department of Children & Families proceedings, the Darbys say.

Hopefully the communications and paperwork snafus have been worked out to the benefit of all.

Charity Darby said she feels she and her husband are “anointed” to serve as role models for young people — their own children and others. On a recent afternoon, the doorbell rang nearly continuously and teenagers traipsed through the Darbys’ living room. Andre and Charity Darby have six older children, including the two high school girls who came into their care over the summer. They proudly call their home the “hangout spot” where they mentor young men and women.

“For them to charge him with something like this… ” Charity Darby said, her voice trailing off.

“I make a difference,” Andre Darby said. “I don’t become part of the problem.”

 

Susan Ryan at Corn and Oil cautions: “I want to point out again…that the Regional Offices of Education are systematically pushing for daytime curfews in Illinois communities to rein in homeschoolers. It’s all over the state, but quite a few southern Illinois communities in a couple of Regional Offices of Education areas with anti-homeschool agendas have passed curfews in the last few months.” Click on Susan’s link to read much more.

This 56 page report by the Advancement Project subtitled, How Zero Tolerance and High-Stakes Testing Funnel Youth into the School to Prison Pipeline is not a surprise but to see it backed with documentation is an eye opener.

From the Advancement Project’s download page:

Test, Punish, and Push Out: How Zero Tolerance and High-Stakes Testing Funnel Youth into the School to Prison Pipeline.

“Test, Punish, and Push Out” provides an overview of zero-tolerance school discipline and high-stakes testing, how they relate to each other, how laws and policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have made school discipline even more punitive, and the risk faced if these devastating policies are not reformed. The report explores:

* The common origins and ideological roots of zero tolerance and high-stakes testing;
* The current state of zero-tolerance school discipline across the country, including local, state, and national data;
* How high-stakes testing affects students, educators, and schools;
* How zero tolerance and high-stakes testing have become mutually reinforcing, combining to push huge numbers of students out of school; and
* Successful grassroots efforts to eliminate harmful discipline and testing practices.

Reading this report makes one wonder how on earth anyone could call for more regulation of homeschoolers and makes any such effort all that more cynical.

The title, Eliminating Truancy, or Indoctrinating Kids?, frames an argument against the trend in fighting truancy. Writer John Danz Jr. offers his perspective:

Lack of trust.

Scrutiny.

Excessive punishment.

Things that annoy youths. Things that motivate youths to rebel and stand out. One of those forms of rebellion is skipping school, of course.

I’m not old enough to know what the punishment for playing hooky from school back in the day was, but I’m assuming it wasn’t as stiff as it is today. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong there. In Texas where I spent my last two years in high school, if you had enough unexcused absences you would be reported to a truancy officer, who could in turn send you to court and have you fined. The fine, in turn, would motivate the truant student to stay in school.

Or, just drop out at 16.

~~~

Treating a truant student like a convict is not the way to motivate them. Period. Some of them you can’t save; you need to just let them make their decision and accept the resulting consequence.

Or, the resulting success.

Read Eliminating Truancy, or Indoctrinating Kids?.

In an article titled Truant students’ parents arrested on The Times Hearld website, District Judge Ester Casillo is quoted as saying “Once a citation for truancy is issued by this court, it is no longer a school issue but rather a court issue.” This sums up the lunacy – one institution tasked with an impossible mission ignores signs of its own failure, and then finds the ‘solution’ by passing kids and families off to yet another institution which can only offer an even less appropriate approach.

Maybe if I could suspend my lack of belief in the institution of public schooling it would make more sense. Maybe if an institution could fill the needs of children and families it would be different, but, I can’t get around the reality that schools are being asked to do the impossible – replace families – raise kids.

Sampling of truancy articles:

Truant students’ parents arrested

Child truant, parent jailed

Judge Orders Truants to Carry GPS Tracking Device

Classes starting for parents of troubled kids

School district, sheriff’s office agreement formally approved by commission

San Francisco Launches Program to Tackle Truancy

There is a thread of troubled families and lack of personal responsibility throughout these articles. Personal responsibility is one thing, responsibility to bolster a flawed institution is quite another.

4,328 students were ticketed by the school police for being truant or late to school in 2008. An average of 24 students per day. The cost of the infraction for being absent is $250 the first time, and it can increase if you reoffend. In the last school year the LASPD obtained more than $1 million.

According to the Labor/Community Strategy Center, around 12,000 students were fined in Los Angeles County during 2008. Such fines can also be issued by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Sheriff department.

$1 million dollars revenue, is this a deficit neutral effort, or, does it generate income?

From the ‘criminals’:

A student from Manual Arts High School, who asked to be identified as “Mike J,” says that many times it is not his fault when he is late to school because sometimes the bus is late.

“Many times we prefer to go back home instead of getting ticketed by the police who stand in front of the school waiting for us,” he said.

Edith Honorato, a student at Roosevelt High School, recently wrote in her school paper, “Am I a criminal for being late to school?”

Criminalize kids early and often? What’s next? Truancy – the new gateway crime?

While this effort may generate short term statistical ‘success’, it is a jaw droopingly wrong headed, counter-productive way to treat kids.

Read Costly “Truancy Tickets” Keep LA Students at Home.

I haven’t seen any mention of this truancy case on Missouri email lists or in previous news alerts, so I had to dig for background on it. The comments at various sites added to the overall picture of the case, and this situation almost looks like one of those unfortunate examples of a continuing collection of bad choices, poor skills, and anger stirred in the crucible of compulsory school attendance.

Even though ‘homeschooling’ is mentioned, I saw no indication in the news reports that the prosecutors pursued the case because of ‘homeschooling’ itself. Of course, this is only a reflection of what has been reported, and non-homeschoolers can be unaware of what needs to be looked at concerning ‘homeschooling’ itself. In Missouri the crucial item would be the daily log of activities. No record = no defense.

Parent gets 2 days in jail for child’s truancy, 10 Jun 2008, KSPR, Springfield, Missouri

Tuesday Kathleen Casteel was sentenced for violating the state’s truancy law. According to Assistant Prosecutor Joe Knipp, Casteel’s son missed nearly half the school days at Reed Middle School last year.

Background:

Mother sentenced to jail for son’s truancy, 11 June 2008, News-Leader.com, Springfield, Missouri

He also ordered Casteel –who has home schooled her son since his enrollment was revoked from Springfield Public Schools –to put the child back into a public school.

That provision came after prosecutors argued Casteel was not home schooling her son in compliance with state law, something defense attorneys contested.

…

Fitzsimmons’ order that Casteel enroll her son in public school also is an aberration, according to Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokesman Jim Morris.

“That is a rare step,” Morris said, noting that neither his office nor many school districts regulate home schooling. “The state has always had a hands-off policy.”

Give truancy trial a meaning, 26 April 2008, News-Leader, Springfield, Missouri

No other school scofflaw in memory has been so brazen as to push the attendance police to this degree. None had demanded a trial in front of a panel of her peers. None had shouted so publicly: This just wasn’t my fault.

So what will a chronicler of history say? What does this mean? Was she martyr or malingerer?

…

The case left the public defenders in the case asking at trial: What purpose does this serve? Observers also ask whether parents like Casteel face a Catch-22: use too much force to get a kid to go to school, you get charged with abuse. Don’t get the kid to school, you can be charged under the truancy law.

Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore defends the decision by the school district, embraced by his office, to prosecute Casteel.

Mother from Springfield could get week in jail for son being truant, 24 April 2008, KY3.com, Springfield, Missouri

Casteel testified that her son, who is mentally retarded, didn’t like school and often fought her efforts to make him go. She said he would throw things, leave their home through his bedroom window, and even once tried to jump out of her moving car as she took him to school. Casteel said her son said other Reed students teased him and tried to start fights with him. She also said, part of the time, her son lived with her ex-husband in Buffalo.

A district attendance advisor testified she visited Casteel’s home about 25 times, and sometimes took the boy to school with her. The advisor also said Casteel’s other children also had attendance problems, and one time she caught Casteel lying about whether the children were home. A Reed attendance secretary said she repeatedly told Casteel to call school if her son wasn’t coming, but Casteel rarely called.