Home-schooling standoff (MA Liberals try to get state custody for 'abused' home-schooled kids)

Metrowest Daily ^ | 6/13/03 | Beecher

[CyberCowboy777]

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies, The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

- C.S. Lewis

[Sloth]

I think Not was being facetious.

[CyberCowboy777]

Is there a web or email address for DSS and the School?

[AAABEST]

He was being sarcastic.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Perhaps they parents believe that what they teach their children is their own business. It is not like they could do much worse than the piblic schools anyway.

[Democratic_Machiavelli]

What do they know that can't be measured by a test?

Some homeschooling families don't learn subjects in the same order that public school children learn them. They'll do a "unit study" and cover a broad range of topics all at once. Some families prefer to go at the child's pace (i.e. don't give them algebra if they don't understand basic math).

If that's the case with this family, the state may jump on a slightly low area and say, "These children need our help!" The children would then be stuck in the public school system wherever the state wanted to put them. Unlike their public school peers who are automatically moved with their class no matter what their grade is.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

You are polite and a gentleman.(lady?)

I might have had the good manners to send them away, rather than shoot them, but they would have had to race the rotties to the gate.

It's over three hundred yards. :)

[BureaucratusMaximus]

the police were there and also said that they had no intention of forcefully taking the children. Right?

NO, the police we're there to "shame" the parents into making their kids take the test. It's one of those "What will everyone think?" kind of things that help to separate sheeple and cowards from principled people with character and integrity.

[Dan from Michigan]

DSS...
The last two letters there fit perfectly. SS.

[cruiserman]

Furthermore, why should these kids be excemt from testing? Why must they be the exception to the rule?

If you believe the parents have the right to do as they see fit regarding the education of their children, then you have your answer.

[dead]

Just what is it that these kids KNOW that can't be measured by a test?

Perhaps they’ve been taught proper disdain for communism and tyranny.

No public school test would ask the simple questions that would reveal that valuable knowledge.

[Tax-chick]

Is that a PITBULL in that picture???

It looks kind of fluffy for a pit bull ... some kind of spaniel or pointer mix?

Good luck to these folks. They're on the front lines, standing up for freedoms most people can't be bothered to defend.

[jhw61]

..."We have legal custody of the children and we will do with them as we see fit," DSS worker Susan Etscovitz told the Bryants in their Gale Street home. "They are minors and they do what we tell them to do."...

What a feminatzi!

[OXENinFLA]

WTF..........How does DSS have legal custudy of them?

[moyden2000]

Liberals are evil.

[L,TOWM]

If you were to ask those questions of me about my two homeschooled kids, I would answer with a question:

"WTF is it any business of yours, a-hole?"

Sorry to get nasty, but if you ask some noxious questions, you may get some noxious answers...

[TaxRelief]

...The parents have been ruled as unfit because they did not file educational plans or determine a grading system for the children, two criteria of Waltham Public School's home schooling policy.

All parents who buck the system must be very careful of DSS.

Recently in Mecklenberg County, NC, there has been a rash of kid stealing: The Stratton Family Ordeal.

[LiteKeeper]

Homeschool SPOTREP

[dasboot]

Mass law REQUIRES that the parents CHOOSE one of three options:

Standardized testing

Home visit by district rep

Submission of curriculum (overview, list of books)that demondtrates that it meets Mass Law for requirements...like state history, phys ed, etc.

It is the RIGHT OF TE PARENT to choose the venue. The school district can not refuse the parent's choice, unless they have PROBABLE CAUSE (evidence)that educational neglect is occurring. Period.

This district is out-of-bounds, and not acting in accordance with established law.

And the danger of the tests is this: Because the testing measures attutudes (affective domain) and has established a norm (do your kids fit the approved profile?) these results can be used for evidence of child abuse or neglect. These parents are being ordered to provide evidence against themselves...potentially... vis-a-vis custody of their children. (physical...nit just legal)

What you have here is a pissin' contest. DSS can't afford to have their charges aware of their rights...makes the job a lot harder. Too bad.

There is no legal reason for these parents not to prevail....just a matter of how much bureaucratic friction they are able to deal with. I hope HSLDA is on this case.

[TaxRelief]

The crux of the problem:

Federal Incentives Compromise Social Workers' Objectivity