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Homeschoolers get knock on door from police
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Monday, November 18, 2002 | By Art Moore

Posted on 11/18/2002 12:00:22 AM PST by JohnHuang2

A public school superintendent has sent police in squad cars to the houses of homeschooling families to deliver his demand that they appear for a "pre-trial hearing" to prove they are in compliance with the law.

Bruce Dennison, regional superintendent of schools in Bureau, Stark, and Henry counties in Northeastern Illinois, has contacted more than 22 families, insisting that they need his approval to conduct education at home.

Dennison is exceeding his authority, according to Chris Klicka of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, or HSLDA, who argues that homeschooling is legal in Illinois and families do not need school district approval to teach their own children.

"He's muscling the homeschoolers pretty heavily," Klicka told WorldNetDaily. "One truant officer told a family that he 'could take away the kids if he wanted to.'"

Also, a district attorney in the area has threatened to prosecute families that do not submit to requests to have their program approved, said Klicka.

But state law is straightforward and simple, Klicka insists. A 1950 Illinois Supreme Court decision, People v. Levisen, established that homeschooling falls under the requirements of a private school. Private schools are required only to teach the same branches of instruction as public schools and to do it in the English language.

Dennison was not available for comment.

The situation is one of many around the nation addressed by HSLDA in which school districts and government officials are seeking to wield greater control over home-based education. The U.S. now has as many as 2 million homeschoolers, according to some estimates.

The state of California is warning parents that they cannot educate their children at home without acquiring a professional teaching credential. Officials maintain this stance despite a statute that allows any parent to homeschool under a private school exemption. Homeschool defenders note that districts are motivated to keep as many children in public school as possible because funds are allotted per student.

Klicka said other superintendents in Illinois accept the procedure for homeschooling in the state that his group advises, which is to prepare a "statement of assurance."

If a family is contacted, according to Klicka, they say, "We've established a private school in our home pursuant to the Levison case. We're teaching the same branches of instruction as public schools."

But Christine Fortune told WND that two squad cars showed up at her house in Geneseo, Ill., in Henry County, in late October to deliver a letter demanding that she appear at a "pre-trial" hearing.

One police cruiser pulled into her driveway, another parked on the street. One policeman then accompanied a truant officer and case worker to her door, while the other police officer waited in his car.

"I was very angry," said Fortune, who homeschools her 14-year-old daughter Stephanie. "[My children] were really perplexed why the police were coming for me. It was way overkill for something that was not even a certified, subpoena kind of letter. It was just something they could have popped in the mail."

Fortune, who served as a substitute public school teacher in the country for about 10 years, said she had homeschooled prior to this school year without any interference.

Klicka said that if a superintendent had evidence that a family is lying or is fraudulent, he should refer it to the prosecutor, but "this superintendent is thinking, 'I've got to approve the curriculum, I've got to check up on the parents.'"

Homeschoolers are under no legal obligation to attend "pre-trial hearings," which have no standards or guarantees, Klicka maintains.

"They're not really 'pre-trial' because there are no charges filed," he said. "It's just part of the intimidation tactics."

When questioned, the district attorney had no idea what standards would be used to judge a homeschooler's curriculum, Klicka said.

On Oct. 18, just four or five days prior to the police-escorted visit to Fortune's house, the homeschool mother allowed a case worker from the school district to come into her home. HSLDA contends that mandatory home visits are violations of a family's right to privacy and the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.

"On the phone, [the case worker] said she wanted to review the curriculum and see if I needed any help – is how she was phrasing it," Fortune said.

The case worker was escorted to a room to see the computer-based curriculum Fortune's daughter uses.

"The beauty of that program is it's perfect for any questions she would have," Fortune said. "It has a record of grades and the things that have been done and lesson plans. I could have just produced that for her very easily, but she never asked."

Instead, said Fortune, the case worker "was fixated on attendance records."

That struck Fortune as being rather odd: "I said, 'I don't do that – we don't punch a time clock. I just write down what we do.'"

"I kept telling her," said Fortune, "'[My children] live here; they haven't been absent once from the home.'"

Since the police visit, Fortune has been referring all communication to HSLDA, which is helping another three of the more than 22 families who are in a similar situation. Membership with the Virginia-based group allows homeschool families to take advantage of their legal resources.

Klicka said he is advising his member families not to go to the hearings or allow home visits but to "stand on a simple letter declaring they are legally homeschooling as a private school."




TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: homeschoollist
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Monday, November 18, 2002

Quote of the Day by Minutemen

1 posted on 11/18/2002 12:00:22 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: TxBec
ping
2 posted on 11/18/2002 12:06:49 AM PST by stands2reason
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To: JohnHuang2
I don't have kids in school, but this would be done ("...take your kids if I want to.") over my dead body...and maybe his.
3 posted on 11/18/2002 12:12:11 AM PST by wcbtinman
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To: JohnHuang2
We've been homeschooling for years. Only way to go.

Nam Vet

4 posted on 11/18/2002 12:15:59 AM PST by Nam Vet
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To: Nam Vet
Amen.
5 posted on 11/18/2002 12:20:20 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
So liberals defend a woman's right to kill her child, but not the right to educate the child at home?

Public schools are government indoctrination camps.

6 posted on 11/18/2002 12:26:39 AM PST by Godel
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To: *Homeschool_list; madfly; 2Jedismom
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list
7 posted on 11/18/2002 12:28:04 AM PST by Free the USA
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To: JohnHuang2
Perhaps they should answer the knock at the door shotgun in hand?
8 posted on 11/18/2002 12:57:49 AM PST by BenR2
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To: JohnHuang2
gestapo bump
9 posted on 11/18/2002 1:03:29 AM PST by Texas_Jarhead
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To: Texas_Jarhead
Klicka said that if a superintendent had evidence that a family is lying or is fraudulent, he should refer it to the prosecutor, but "this superintendent is thinking, 'I've got to approve the curriculum, I've got to check up on the parents.'"

They already have the power to test. That's a lot of power. If the child fails a test, then look into the cirriculum.

10 posted on 11/18/2002 2:08:55 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
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To: Texas_Jarhead
If the kids have been doing well in the tests, the parents should sue that turkey personally. He would then be abusing his power.
11 posted on 11/18/2002 2:09:55 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
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To: wcbtinman
Maybe the American Nazis would back off if some more people felt as you did.

12 posted on 11/18/2002 2:14:43 AM PST by Skywalk
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To: JohnHuang2
For freedom.
13 posted on 11/18/2002 2:30:15 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
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To: JohnHuang2
Since they want to close down all home schools without credentialed teachers I guess the reverse should be also true, all public schools with uncredentialed teachers should be shut down and all tax money used in the "illegal" school should be returned. That should eliminate about 90% of goobermint schools.

Since when did the government get the right to dictate to parents what type of school the parents will provide. Who died and made them the guardians of the children?
14 posted on 11/18/2002 2:34:58 AM PST by American in Israel
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To: JohnHuang2
Perhaps this socialist clerk should be reminded that Parents do not bear children for the State. He will have to move to a communist country for that power.
15 posted on 11/18/2002 2:36:34 AM PST by American in Israel
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March; John Jorsett; Slip18; 2Jedismom; homeschool mama; BallandPowder; ...
Having home schooled for the past 14 years or so, we have seen or heard it all. My hat is off to these families for sticking to their convictions. We have found there are two types of home school families. Those who do it for convenience, and those who are convicted to home educate their children in their heart. The latter have a much greater success ratio than do the former.
16 posted on 11/18/2002 2:40:25 AM PST by SLB
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To: JohnHuang2
This is way out of line. You dont send cops like that and threaten to take the children away. Unless these people were involved in raising a gang... but then, what is these Palestinian like schools are doing by coercing kids into sex/gay lifestyles... The cops are banging at the wrong doors and they are working for a rotten school superintendent with conflicts of interests.

Since when cops took sides here? I smell homeschoolers profiling.


17 posted on 11/18/2002 3:10:22 AM PST by lavaroise
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To: lavaroise
I was worried about how much static I would get from my ex (a cop) when I brought up homeschooling to him. He was all for it. He told me to go for it; he didn't want our kids going to school with the kids of the folks he has to deal with on a daily basis.
18 posted on 11/18/2002 3:41:32 AM PST by TxBec
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To: BenR2
No, but Bruce Dennison's family should learn that poking your nose where it does not belong has backsplash. One wonders if any of them uses drugs, has bad credit, has an unusual sex life, employs a wetback to clean their house, etc. Inquiring minds want to know!

Northeast Illinois has a limited set of options if you get yourself a reputation.

19 posted on 11/18/2002 4:05:46 AM PST by eno_
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To: JohnHuang2
A public school superintendent has sent police in squad cars to the houses of homeschooling families to deliver his demand that they appear for a "pre-trial hearing" to prove they are in compliance with the law.

How much longer before the male members of these homeschooling families start "showing up" at the doors of these corrupt and tyrannical public school leaders and those who choose to be their willing lapdogs?

20 posted on 11/18/2002 4:09:35 AM PST by Mulder
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