Seems this has been a running struggle of compromises and refusals. I think the kids are getting a great education about the state and the rights of individuals in the Communist Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Bryants lose court battle: Social Service now guardian of Waltham children in homeschooling case
By DeAnna Putnam Friday, December 14, 2001
WALTHAM - The two children of George and Kim Bryant have been placed in the custody of the Department of Social Services because their parents refuse to submit a home-schooling lesson plan to the Waltham School Department.
The children, Nyssa, 12, and George, 13, remain at home.
In the latest twist to a long-running dispute, Framingham Juvenile Court Judge Kathryn White said that DSS will be the children’s legal guardian until they are 16. The Bryants can’t take their children out of state.
In her decision, White noted that the children have not been abused and their home life is good.
The Bryants yesterday offered DSS area Director Margaret Monnie a lesson plan to satisfy White’s court order. But Monnie said she did not want the plan and that the couple should submit it to the Waltham School Department.
Monnie told the Bryants that Waltham School officials will inform DSS if the lesson plan is acceptable.
The School Committee, an elected board separate from the school administration, has approved the couple’s plan and said it would like such plans submitted every year.
The Bryants yesterday went to the DSS office in Arlington to talk about their case. An assistant area director said DSS had just been informed of the judge’s decision and had not yet assigned a caseworker.
The couple has battled with the School Committee and Waltham School Department over home-schooling their children for five years.
The School Department this year filed a Care and Protection complaint against the couple because they did not submit a lesson plan for the 2000-2001 academic year.
The Bryants say no law requires them to do so.
Waltham Assistant City Solicitor Howard Rock agrees that no law requires the couple to submit a lesson plan, but he said the School Committee has the right to create legal requirements by its own authority.
To date, city attorneys have handled 16 cases related to the Bryants, including cases the city has filed against the couple and counterclaims the Bryants have filed against the city.
The Bryants submitted a lesson plan three years ago when the city went through similar measures to have custody of the children turned over to DSS.
Monnie told the Bryants that DSS would insist on visiting the children at home.
But White’s order says “home visits, however, may not be required for the approval of a proposed home schooling plan. Home visits are not presumptively essential to protect the state’s interest in ensuring the education of children.”
Monnie told the Bryants it was obvious that they “don’t want to play the game” that the city of Waltham has set up for them regarding schooling requirements.
People who resist opposed norms sometimes are to be commended, Monnie said, but for now, the state is requiring the couple to conform.
Although DSS had no part in bringing Care and Protection charges against the couple, DSS has to comply with the court order, she said.
George Bryant said he and his wife would drop off a lesson plan at the Waltham School Department by today.
Meanwhile, they are appealing White’s decision, and pursuing other complaints they have filed, because they feel their constitutional rights have been violated many times, George Bryant said.
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/waltbryants12142001.htm