August 9th, 2002 Glen Marlow Administration Glen Marlow Elementary School Henderson County, N.C. To Ms. Brittain: This letter is written in regards to the homework assignment given on August 8th, 2002, entitled MY ROOM. Please be advised that (daughter's name) has been given the strictest of direction not to give out any information relevant to the contents of our home or that, which pertains to our personal life. Dissemination of such material is solely at my discretion. This assignment is forbidden in this family and will not be handed in. I am confident you are intelligent enough to find a working alternative. The last thing I need is any person in possession of information, which can be used to: If you think I am "off base" on this matter, I have a homework assignment for the entire staff at Glen Marlow: This information is such that the police department cannot get it without a criminal investigation and a search warrant. Similar information was requested by the United States Census and I denied it directly to the census taker in person. He had no say in the matter since it is our right, under law, not to answer all but the first four questions on the census. No government official has the right to this information unless I choose to allow it, which I don’t. It is unfortunate that the Henderson County School Board has not properly screened these assignments in such a manner as to remove them from civil liability. Because I have decided to object to this unwarranted questioning of my daughter, my wife is now in fear that (daughter's name) will not receive equal treatment in class. My child has been presented with a scenario where she cannot trust you as a teacher and I have instructed her to this effect. Can you image for, one second, the alarm that I had when I found out that my child’s room was being inventoried for the school system? This seriously reaches into our private life and I am retaining this assignment for future legal action should it become necessary. May I make this as clear as possible so there will be no future misunderstandings. As one professional to another I expect my rights as a parent to be respected. I trust that you will bring this matter up with other teachers for discussion so that you may protect yourselves from further aggravation and possible liability problems. I further suggest you put this assignment, and this letter, before the school board attorney and let him chew on it a while. Your curriculum should never be allowed to put you in this position. If I were in your position I would lodge a formal complaint and use this letter as proof to make your argument and cover your back. But that’s just me. My response is not personal and you may show this, copy it, or give it to anyone who wishes to see it. If you need me to back you up, I will. If you want me to help review your curriculum from the prospective of a system analyst I will. All you, and the staff, have to do is ask. I will volunteer my time, and show you trouble spots, as a person that routinely does post doctorate level research. I will closely monitor all of (daughter's name) homework from here on. My horror at the sight of this assignment required my immediate attention such that this, or any other assignment like it, should never be allowed to happen again. I hope that you do not take this personally or take offense to any degree, or level, even close to the offense and contempt that I view this assignment. I recognize the selection of topic is probably not your choice but some lame bureaucrats stupidity to try and draw a lawsuit. Sincerely, __________________________________ Douglas R. Griffin System Analyst/Medical Researcher Sub-acute Chronic Stealth Infection Theory and Population Studies
My attention was drawn to one of your points:
It is the job of the Henderson County School Board to make sure my child is properly educated. That is it, period, and end of discussion.
I would submit that this is too open ended. Who decides what "properly" means, what does it include? Using 'educated' gives them too much license. If I had the 'nads to write this letter, I would have stated: "It is the obligation of the Henderson Co. School Board to make sure my child receives instruction in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, social studies, art, music, and P.E. That is it, period, and end of discussion."
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parent to educate a child and it sounds like you're doing a great job.
If I sound like a nut on this issue, it's because I really have seen the scary stuff this system has to offer, and I saw it from a child's perspective. My dear old Dad is a rabid right-winger :) and always tried to protect the family's privacy (refusing to give our SSN's, etc.). As a result, CPS swooped down on me and my kid sis in 4th and 5th grades to try to manipulate us into turning them in for child abuse.
Seems the teacher who had always been most irked by my Dad's demands for personal privacy had noticed bruises on our arms (from wrestling each other) and called the authorities. After we told them how we got the bruises, they obviously didn't believe us and started in with other questioning about spanking, yelling, etc.
All of this went on in our parent's living room at 3 in the afternoon in the late 80's (maybe early 90's), before either parent had returned from work. They knocked on the door, demanded we let them in, and started asking us all these scary questions. It was terrifying.
Give no quarter to the nanny state.