When I decided to homeschool we were hearing reports on the news about school shootings. While living in Oakland while my children were preschoolers, I kept seeing newspaper articles about children in the schools with weapons. Lots of kids were caught bringing GUNS to school in Oakland in those years - the early 1990's. There was no way I was willing to send my kids to school there. This is why I initially became convinced that homeschooling was a better way to educate children.
I did my research. I wanted to homeschool. Unfortunately I had one child with a known disability and as a single, impoverished parent, needed help, so I allowed that child to attend school for a few years until it became very obvious that it (the special-ed school) was a toxic, inhumane situation. I pulled my child out and have been homeschooling both for years now. They are 13 and 14 now.
There's NO WAY I'll ever want my kids to go back to public school. One of my children wanted to try public schooling last year, so I allowed it so she could see what it was like. We ended up having to file a CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT which was investigated by the US Dept. of Education Office of Civil Rights, SF office. We just got notice this week that WE WON - our complaints were investigated and the school's wrongdoing was verified. The school (while not officially admitting guilt) agreed to modify its proceedures so they won't harm another child in the way they harmed mine and deprived her of her rights.
Fortunately my child decided to go back to good old homeschooling on the second school day of this year. Due to this, we've had two calls from the local School Attendance Review Board (SARB) officer, most recently, on Monday, this week. He wanted to verify that I've filed our R4 (Private School Affidavit). We have.
The same day I received a letter from the Department of Human Services.
The local Dept. of Human Services is threatening me with considering my son truant and "imposing a CalWORKS penalty" because I won't cave in and enroll him in a public school or an "accredited" private school. NO WAY. I'm an independent homeschooler, meaning I've established a private school here in accordance with California law, and I'm not giving in to silly demands from people who haven't thouroughly researched the laws.
They are basing their request, not on any statutes or regulations, but on a letter they recieved from a 'state analyst' in 1999 that mentions two outdated California appeals cases that no longer apply. The People v. Turner decision from 1953 is based on state laws that are no longer even found in the code. They've been eliminated or changed. Every statute named in that decison is gone! The other case, In Re Shinn, is about using a curriculum that leaves out required subjects.
I've read these cases before and you can bet they are sitting on my desk to be read again now because I'm preparing my defense of private school homeschooling in CA. Both cases pre-date the very important US Supreme Court case allowing home education, Wisconsin v. Yoder. That's on my desk too, and I'll be briefing all these cases and will post my findings on the web soon. There's more, but this is getting lengthy. I'll be establishing a separate website for the information and will let you know the URL in just a few days... keep watching this blog for information!
The homeschooling situation in California is complex. I admit, I'm angry that charter-schooling families have sold out... sold their independence and freedom to a charter school owner and the state, in exchange for ADA funding to pay for computers and curriculum. That leaves us true homeschoolers, who establish our own private schools, out in the COLD as far as getting a lot of support from our peers. In the remote mountain county I live in, I've heard from ONE other homeschooler with a private school affidavit on file with the state. I heard from her because I wrote a letter about the situation that was published as an op-ed in a local newspaper earlier this year.
Because I'm isolated and because local bureaucrats have too much free time on their hands, I'm being persecuted by DHS for the third time in five years on the homeschooling issue. Twice it was unwarranted CPS investigations about homeschooling. This time they're getting to me through the welfare department because when I lost my child support last winter I went on welfare to be able to pay my bills. (By the way, the child support owed is $798/mo which is now assigned to the county and far exceeds the $540 I get from welfare. When they collect, they will be receiving a $258 per month profit for every month I was on aid.)
I suspect it is from retaliation for the letter I wrote and distributed about my CPS problems last spring... that the county has suddenly produced this 1999 'opinion' letter from a state analyst regarding homeschooling. I've requested a copy of this document.
I should have known the county bureaucrats would try to find some way to get back at me, but when CPS is harassing a family the BEST thing to do is go public, and that's what I did, at the advice of a friend who is a retired attorney and a blessed, wonderful old man (someone many of us local folks love and respect). I wrote my letter to the CPS caseworker asking for his confirmation or denial of my statements of fact within ten days. I never heard back from the caseworker. I also sent the letter to his program manager, the department head, and some legislators and newspapers. I heard back from the program manager only - and she implied the harassment was my fault. Nonetheless I let it go at that point. All I really care about is my privacy and being able to homeschool my children in peace, and pursue my interests which include writing and webdesign. I also heard back from my state assemblyman,
Doug LaMalfa, who sent my letter on to
Rita Saenz, head of the State Dept. of Public Social Services. (
photo)
Let me explain to you more about the county in which I live. This county is one of the largest in California, with one of the smallest populations. There are less than 50,000 people in the county. Because of this there are too many bureaucrats like CPS workers who don't have enough people to practice on so some of the citizens here get picked on much more often than in a larger-population area. This has been studied by the local Grand Jury folks who have done reports on our way-out-of-control local CPS agency for three years in a row. It is my observation that most of the people who get their kids taken by CPS in this county are drug users. I am not one, and frankly, don't have much concern for people who put recreational drug use before the safety of their children. But I know CPS well enough to know they're picking on other people too and have taken non-abused, non-neglected children from their loving homes in this county as well as in many others.
I moved to this county in November 1999. On January 11 I had my first visit from CPS - the referral coming from an insane, drug-using acquaintance at a hotel I was staying at... someone I didn't want to be friends with, so she made a report to CPS saying God knows what. That was my 'welcome to the county' referral.
Over the next three years there were four more CPS investigations by one male caseworker who apparently became obsessed with me because I own an anti-CPS activist website called
Fight CPS And Win. I guess the fact that I dislike and distrust the agency for forcing me to kick my children's father out of the house 14 years ago makes me look suspicious to them... or maybe it was the homeschooling. From all the research I've done in the last 14 years, and from talking to thousands of other distressed victims of this agency, I dislike them even more. Sorry about that Mr. Caseworker, but we Americans not only have the right to an opinion, we've got the right to express that on the internet!
I've written about all I have to say on this today but will keep you informed of developments. I want to thank my wonderful homeschool organization,
California Homeschool Network for helping me and putting me in touch with a homeschool advocate attorney who will be on my side. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
It will take time, but I'll post my documentation to my new site. God bless you in your homeschooling and may He increase the love and peace in your families, day by day.
***
While researching for this post I came across this information:
CalWORKS Illegal Activities
Wow. Come to think of it, when I applied for aid last November (2002) the caseworker tried to say I'd used all my months and should be on the work program. I had to file for an administrative hearing and prove they were wrong. I settled when the hearings department corrected the error. I guess they couldn't sanction me that way, so now they're planning to apply sanctions because of the method I choose to homeschool by.
Well, I'm a fighter, not one easily intimidated. I know what my rights are and I intend to stand up for them.
