Social Worker Prevents Family from Homeschooling
Home School Legal Defense Association recently intervened on behalf of a new member family in New York’s Massapequa Union Free School District when the family’s decision to educate their sons at home was blocked by an overbearing social worker.
Because of their struggles with chronic illness, the family’s two teenage sons had been receiving “homebound instruction” through their school district since the fall of 2015. (Homebound instruction is a service for public school students who are unable to attend school because of special circumstances, such as a medical condition.)
Even with this special accommodation, however, both sons’ illnesses caused them to miss some of their homebound instruction appointments. Because of these missed appointments, the school district contacted Child Protective Services in December and accused the parents of educational neglect—even though the district was familiar with the boys’ medical circumstances and had received medical documentation from the boys’ physicians. The case was closed in March.
In the meantime, after months of working with medical providers to determine the cause of the boys’ illnesses, the family received a diagnosis in December and began to investigate appropriate treatment.
More Allegations
To add to the family’s stress of seeking treatment for their sons, the school district filed another complaint with CPS in April, again alleging educational neglect. The school district had refused to accept notes from the boys’ doctor and nurse practitioner because these medical providers were from other states.
In light of their sons’ need to continue their education in a non-adversarial environment while undergoing treatment for their illnesses, the family decided to pursue homeschooling. HSLDA Staff Attorney Tj Schmidt advised the family on how to navigate the homeschooling notification process with the school district and how to communicate with their CPS caseworker about their decision to homeschool. The family carefully followed Schmidt’s guidance, submitting their letters of intent to the school district and their letters of withdrawal to their sons’ schools.
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