Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Home-schooling standoff (MA Liberals try to get state custody for 'abused' home-schooled kids)
Metrowest Daily ^ | 6/13/03 | Beecher

Posted on 06/13/2003 12:26:29 PM PDT by pabianice

"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!"

WALTHAM, MA -- A legal battle over two home-schooled children exploded into a seven-hour standoff yesterday, when they refused to take a standardized test ordered by the Department of Social Services.

George Nicholas Bryant, 15, and Nyssa Bryant, 13, stood behind their parents, Kim and George, as police and DSS workers attempted to collect the children at 7:45 a.m. DSS demanded that the two complete a test to determine their educational level.

After a court order was issued by Framingham Juvenile Court around 1 p.m., the children were driven by their parents to a Waltham hotel.

Again, they refused to take the test.

"The court order said that the children must be here. It said nothing about taking the test," said George Bryant.

The second refusal came after an emotion-filled morning for the family, when DSS workers sternly demanded the Bryants comply with their orders.

"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."

Four police officers were also at the scene and attempted to coax the Bryants to listen to the DSS worker.

"We are simply here to prevent a breach of the peace," said Waltham Youth Officer Detective James Auld. "We will will not physically remove the children."

Yesterday's events are the continuation of a six-year legal battle between the family and Waltham Public Schools and the state.

The Bryants contend that the city and state do not have the legal right to force their children to take standardized tests, even though DSS workers have threatened to take their children from them.

"There have been threats all along. Most families fall to that bullying by the state and the legal system," said George Bryant.

"But this has been a six-year battle between the Waltham Public Schools and our family over who is in control of the education of our children," Bryant continued. "In the end the law of this state will protect us."

The Bryant children have never attended public school.

Both sides agree that the children are in no way abused mentally, physically, sexually or emotionally, but legal custody of the children was taken from Kim and George Bryant in December 2001. The children will remain under the legal custody of DSS until their 16th birthdays.

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.

"We do not believe in assessing our children based on a number or letter. Their education process is their personal intellectual property," said Bryant.

George Bryant said he was arrested six years ago, after not attending a meeting that the city contends he was summoned to. The meeting was called by the Waltham School Department for his failure to send his children to school.

"We want these issues aired in the open, in public. The school system and DSS have fought to keep this behind closed doors," said Bryant.

Superintendent of Schools Susan Parrella said she was unaware of yesterday's incident and that, currently the school department approves of the education plan filed by DSS for the Bryant children.

"An acceptable home school plan is in place right now," said Parrella. "I was not aware of any testing occurring today."

The Bryant children freely admit that they have no intention of taking a test.

"We don't want to take the test. We have taken them before and I don't think they are a fair assessment of what we know," said Nyssa Bryant. "And no one from DSS has ever asked us what we think."

Kenneth Pontes, area director of DSS, denied that workers have never talked to the children privately, but admitted that this type of case isn't often seen by his office.

"This is an unusual case. Different school systems require different regulations for home-schooled children. Waltham requires testing," said Pontes.

Pontes said that a possibility exists that the children will be removed from their home, but that was a last course of action.

"No one wants these children to be put in foster homes. The best course of action would for (the Bryants) to instruct the children to take the test," said Etscovitz.

The Bryant family is due in Framingham District Court this morning, to go before a juvenile court judge. According to DSS, this session will determine what their next course of action will be and if the children will be removed from the Bryants' home.

"These are our children and they have and always will be willing participants in their education," said Kim Bryant.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Breaking News; Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Philosophy; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: homeschooling
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 401-412 next last
To: ladylib
Thanks for sending the e-mail.
301 posted on 06/13/2003 11:56:32 PM PDT by Lady Eileen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 202 | View Replies]

To: Desdemona
ping
302 posted on 06/14/2003 12:02:30 AM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lady Eileen
I homeschooled my daughter for 11 years and she is now in college. Her tests were relevent to what she had just been taught. The State trying to test them for what the others their age had been taught is folly. My daughter hardly ever was taught the same course at the same time as others her age. That's why we homeschooled(among other reasons.) One year she was absorbed in the study of sharks. She read books from the library, went to web sites, and then we vacationed at Sea World. We made a test for her to see iff she was retaining anything. 50 questions, made 100. Testing her on her everyday ciriculum, produced lower results. She usually made just enough to pass. When dinosaurs were her fancy, you drop what you are doing and do dinosaurs. You get 100% retention. Same for when she was learning the states and their capitols. Another was airplanes and flying, building things and finding out how things worked, hunting, etc. All these phases came and went, so you use that time to study as long as she wants on each subject that she is interested in at that time. We didn't have quiting times, worked some weekends, and sometimes all summer. She graduated a year early. We actually slowed her down so she wouldn't be in college with people to old for her. When Texas history came around, she read the textbook, went to the library for biography's, and finally we went to the Alamo in SA, and then on to San Jacinto in Pasadena. She listened to the guides and the films intently. She passed with a mid 90% grade on a 100 question test with essay's. She left out a coulple of facts I wanted her to retain I felt were important enough. She learned these facts 2 years before public school had Texas history. She saw the battlefields, the tactics they used, and saw the implements of war actually used in the battles. What if she was given a typing test by DSS? What about home ecc or algebra? She hadn't had those classes by then. What if she took their test and failed? Some have said she would be taken from me. I ask, Do all failures of the test result in loosing the kid? I bet not. Equal treatment under the law, which Homeschoolers are taught, says all failures of the same test should be in foster care. I bet the Dss would have more standoffs than they wanted. If they can do it to one, we are all in danger.

Come to Texas and escape the tyrany. Our ciriculum must teach reading, writing, arithmatic, and good citizenship. They don't care what you use for a ciriculum. The Leeper vs. Texas case was our test case and when it was decided, we were left alone, forever.

God put a hedge around this family, and all the rest that risk so much to do what is right, in Jesus Name, AMEN.

303 posted on 06/14/2003 12:38:07 AM PDT by chuckles
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 299 | View Replies]

To: chuckles
Your story is very encouraging to me and gives me hope. May God continue to bless your family.

Nearly 150 years ago R.L. Dabney noted: The education of children for God is the most important business done on earth. It is the business for which the earth exist. To it all politics, all war, all literature, all money-making,ought to be subordinated; and every parent especially ought to feel, every hour of the day, that, next to making his own calling and election sure, this is the end for which he is kept alive by God---this is his task on earth.

304 posted on 06/14/2003 1:03:06 AM PDT by Lady Eileen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 303 | View Replies]

To: Motherbear
As soon as the parent cedes to the state the right to test the child, the parent cedes over authority to the state.

Exactly the point.

The government does NOT own my children.

I nominate this the quote of the day.

305 posted on 06/14/2003 1:44:19 AM PDT by Lady Eileen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: WriteOn
Considering all the civil replies to me on this thread, yours stands out as being rude and disgusting. I'll let it stand so that others can see you for the kind of person you are.

As for the others, thank you. You have won me over to your side and that is what this forum is all about.

306 posted on 06/14/2003 2:14:42 AM PDT by SamAdams76 (Back in boot camp! 268 (-32))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 258 | View Replies]

To: yellowroses
"when 11, he was under such stress (an A & B student) to PREPARE for the state testing, he became severely depressed and was suicidal"

My daughter was so stressed after taking the ISTEP(Indiana) that she had a 5 month long period. Gynecologist could find nothing wrong. Did not stop even with radical medication and birth control pills. Stopped after she got results of ISTEP and passed.
Tell me again why passing this test should be mandatory to getting a high school diploma. This requirement is doing nothing but producing more dropouts(kids think they have no chance of passing) and severe physical and emotional problems due to stress.
307 posted on 06/14/2003 3:42:52 AM PDT by SendShaqtoIraq
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 233 | View Replies]

To: CyberCowboy777
Hey cowboy,
Where did you find that C. S. Lewis quote?
308 posted on 06/14/2003 5:07:45 AM PDT by whipitgood (love without anger isn't love at all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76; Lady Eileen; All
I must say that I see nothing wrong with periodic testing (similar to what children in school receive) to ensure that the children are actually being taught something....I think it's a good measuring stick with which to compare against children who attend public school. In fact, I would venture to say that the average home-schooled child would perform better on average than the public-schooled pupil.

That being the case, I am certainly against the gestapo tactics being used here by the DSS.

The Left pretends the controversy is a matter of testing v. no testing, with those favoring testing on the side of the angels. But of course that's not so. The issue is who -- parents or busybody social workers -- gets to pick which test and when.

That's important, because the _ultimate_ underlying issue is which government -- family or state -- has final authority over children.

Trying to split the difference on the issue is like saying: "The state may have its taxes as long as there are no audits." In the real world, of course, you don't get one without the other.

309 posted on 06/14/2003 5:19:31 AM PDT by Law
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: ladysusan
Social workers need to be made accountable for their actions. At present, social workers engaged in child "welfare" (should be called "warfare") enjoy at least some degree of prosecutorial- like immunity for their actions.

The first cause of bureaucratic abuse is sin. But sovereign immunity is a close second. Every organization has petty tyrants in its ranks. But only the state gives them near blanket protection.

There will be no peace until the law stops shielding injustice merely because it is perpetuated by an agent of the state. Until then, outrages like this one will continue to be just the tip of the iceberg.

310 posted on 06/14/2003 5:32:51 AM PDT by Law ("They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: BureaucratusMaximus
The police were present to prevent the children from entering a 'spelling bee'......fenway
311 posted on 06/14/2003 5:36:16 AM PDT by fenway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: ladysusan; pabianice; jhw61; Tax-chick; moyden2000; CyberCowboy777; dasboot; TaxRelief; ...
Sam, she deserves to be sued... The law , however, gives her immunity from all that, so she is not accountable to anyone. Hence, her taunt. Part of the fix for these socialist thugs is to repeal their immune status. The other part is to take the funding away from CPS.

Both parts of the fix would be major battles. So prudence suggests focusing on the one that is more important. Lifting sovereign immunity is more important because it could benefit those abused by nearly all bureaucratic thugs, not just social workers.

312 posted on 06/14/2003 5:45:55 AM PDT by Law ("They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: Mo1
All this over a test?

No. All this over power -- who has it, the family, and who wants it, the state.

313 posted on 06/14/2003 5:51:00 AM PDT by Law ("They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: ladysusan
You have provided information that I have never seen before. It is stunning to see the evil visited upon these mothers and their children.

Thank you. I have to rearrange my world view in some areas.

314 posted on 06/14/2003 5:54:45 AM PDT by happygrl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: Cathryn Crawford
The entire system needs to be figuratively nuked and built from scratch.

This is one of those times when a few more good lawyers come in handy.

315 posted on 06/14/2003 6:08:15 AM PDT by Law ("They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 181 | View Replies]

To: Law; All
Here is a link to a blurb about the poll on worldnetdaily about homeschooler testing.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/929002/posts

Here is the direct link to the poll. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/polls/
316 posted on 06/14/2003 7:22:40 AM PDT by Chi Chi Tokyo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 315 | View Replies]

To: nmh
Me: EXACTLY! How does one asses progress WITHOUT OBJECTIVE TESTING?

I'll take progress without testing over testing without progress (government union schools mode) any day.
317 posted on 06/14/2003 7:25:48 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 203 | View Replies]

To: nmh
Question of the day: Should jackboot licking posters be "excemt" from havine their own education called into question?
318 posted on 06/14/2003 7:51:34 AM PDT by eno_
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Law
The petty tyrant here, one Susan Etscovitz, is easy to find. One visit to anywho.com will do it.
319 posted on 06/14/2003 7:56:25 AM PDT by eno_
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 310 | View Replies]

To: pabianice
As far as our liberties as parents to bring up our own children according to our own good conscience, this sure isn't our grandmothers' America.
320 posted on 06/14/2003 8:15:54 AM PDT by Gal.5:1 (It was for freedom...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 401-412 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson