3 replies to this topic

[Kristi Walker]

Thank you for sharing your concerns. We are taking those into consideration and are reworking the bill. What I want is a central registry of students who are homeschooled so that the Family Court will know in a case of neglect or abuse if a child is actually being homeschooled or if that child is truant (often due to the parent's severe drug abuse). In Dorchester County, we have had several cases where children have been out of school for a long period of time and DSS is not being alerted by the school district. The district is being told that the child is homeschooled when in fact the parents are not engaged any homeschool activities. In the case of the child who allegedly starved to death in Dorchester County the child was not in school for 6 years. We need to keep a little better records so this doesn't happen again.

I believe we can accomplish this goal of protecting children by doing something different that what's in H. 3478. I am actually going to work with the homeschool community to come up with a good compromise so that we can protect children and guarantee that those who homeschool continue to do it well.

I would enjoy speaking to you about how we can accomplish my goal with
this legislation without harming legitimate homeschooling efforts
which, by the way, I appauld.

Best regards,

Jenny A. Horne
Jenny Horne Law Firm, LLC
107 S. Main Street
Summerville, SC 29483
(843) 873-1721 office
(843) 875-4696 fax
 

[Dianna]

Kristi, thank you for sharing this. (In case others don't know this, Ms. Horne is one of the sponsors of this bill.)

Dianna

[Rachel Wallace]

First of all, Thanks to Dianna for putting all this together!  I did want to comment on Ms. Horne's letter.  Shouldn't it have been the responsibility of DSS to follow up on this matter and ultimately find out if the child was homeschooled and the parents were following the correct protocol?  If DSS would have checked with the homeschool association of the registered student, wouldn't the homeschool association be responsible for letting them know that the child was being homeschool and his records were up to date with that association?  Really, what homeschool parents would teach their children but not feed them?  I wouldn't say that parents who homeschool love their children more, but I think we have more of a vested interest in our children.  We are with them ALL DAY LONG and would want to see them grow and prosper in every way.  It seems like to me they are trying to find a scapegoat without blaming a government agency.  

[Dianna]

Rachel, I absolutely agree with you. From everything I've read (and I admit that I haven't read everything about this case, only a couple of summaries from other people), the authorities were never able to prove they registered with any homeschool association or through the school district. If that's the case, then they weren't really homeschoolers in the first place.

 

Even if they had registered as homeschoolers, it's unfair to blame homeschooling for the abuse. When public school children are abused by their parents, they don't blame the public schools. Legislators just don't think things through and often have knee-jerk reactions when they hear about cases such as this.

 

Warmly,

Dianna