Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Wicomico County Imposes Multiple Unlawful Requirements

A representative of Wicomico County Public Schools sent a letter to familiesin early August unlawfully requiring that families:

Give the school system a copy of their driver’s license;
Give the school system proof of where they live;
Give the school system proof of the child’s Social Security number;
Give the school system a copy of the child’s birth certificate;
Make an appointment to meet with school staff before beginning homeschooling;
“Register” the child before beginning homeschool; and
“Enroll” the child before beginning homeschooling.

I spoke to a representative by phone on August 21 and explained that these requirements are unlawful. But I subsequently received a report that the school system is continuing to try to impose some or all of these unlawful requirements on families.

Therefore, last week I sent a letter explaining that the school system’s action violates Maryland Regulation 13A.10.01.01.F. This regulation says “A local school system may not impose additional requirements for home instruction programs other than those in these regulations.” My letter warned that if the school system fails to operate within the boundaries of the law, significant legal consequences could follow.

It is now important to monitor the school system’s conduct to see if it violates the law even after receiving my cautionary letter. If you live in (or move into) Wicomico County, and the school system tries to impose any of the above unlawful requirements on you via a letter, please send us a copy of the letter immediately. If the school system instead tries to impose any unlawful requirements on you via a phone call or face-to-face conversation, insist that the representative put what he or she intends to say in writing and send it to you. When you receive it, forward it to us immediately for review. Emails and scanned documents may be sent to info@hslda.org.

Sincerely,

Scott A. Woodruff, Esq.,
Senior Counsel,
Home School Legal Defense Association
(540) 338-5600

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This letter was sent to families who homeschool their children. These families received a letter from Wicomico Co Board of Ed in August listing their demands to be met. They are registered with the State and report to their own homeschool cooperatives. These co-ops are approved by the state and have approved reviewers for each student. Here is another example of our local school board butting in on something that does not concern them. As you can see from the letter from the Homeschool Legal Defense attorney, Wicomico county is not even aware of the laws regarding homeschool situations.

Scott said...

The home schooling movement is growing all over the country. With people having fewer children the number of children in the classroom is due to lessen in the future. The county probably sees this as a threat to their existence. If you have the money you send them to private school. If you don't and want a quality education for you child, you home school them. I say more power to them! They want to dumb down education in the school to have a population of sheep who won't question authority. An educated person would be a threat to this system of common core education.

Anonymous said...

I dont know anything about homeschooling but the public school required me to submit most of this information in the last couple of years as well.

Anonymous said...

Who is the person at the board of education responsible for sending the letter?

Anonymous said...

If you are home schooling it is none of their F---ing business. Just more big government wanting to control every aspect of your life. If public schools would teach kids reading, writing and arithmetic instead of brainwashing them there would be no need to home school. But the public school system is putting out illiterate kids that can't read or write. They are not even taught cursive writing so they cannot read it unless you print it for them. And college graduates that can't take ten per cent of ten dollars without a calculator. It is really sad. No wonder people want to home school.