Homeschool: HSLDA Does No Favors

DOJ seeks deportation of family persecuted in Germany for homeschooling

From William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection, we learn about the case of Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their children:

A Map of the Legality of Home schooling around the world.

The Romeikes are devout Christians from Germany who wanted to homeschool their children because of what they perceived as the secularist agenda in German public schools. In the United States, the right to homeschool ones’ own children is accepted, although frequently mocked by the left. The homeschoool movement is thriving in the United States, but in Germany it is illegal, a holdover from Nazi-era law.

The Romeikes fled to the United States in 2008 after they faced mounting fines and the potential of imprisonment. The Romeikes sought asylum, and were granted that asylum by Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman in a January 26, 2010 decision after a hearing which included not only the Romeikes but also expert witnesses on homeschooling in Germany.

While this case is loosely connected to foreign homeschooling, American homeschoolers need to be cautious in being viewed as linked to a particular ideology. We have seen for decades and across the country that the inaccurate but highly promoted perception–of homeschoolers as being “fringe” and “extreme” and “isolationists,” etc.–has damaged our ability to work with state legislature and local school divisions to improve homeschool laws and regulations. In fact, some would say that he and his money-making machine even stole homeschooling.

In the Romeike case, the Department of Justice argues against granting asylum because the country’s law is neither “selectively enforced” nor “metes out disproportionate punishment” against people of a particular religion. You can find an interesting view on this case here. Be aware that, when Farris and HSLDA became involved in German homeschooling a few years ago, the result was disastrous for the family and for homeschooling.

Mike Farris and his parental rights arguments have been one of homschoolings’ worst enemies. His so-called national “homeschool” organization (which mixes causes) even wrote the two worst state laws in the country–New York and PA–touted them as “model legislation” and since then have made money “protecting” homeschoolers against the very laws they wrote. This insistence on promoting their own agenda, while refusing to work with state and local homeschoolers, is a well set pattern with Farris and HSLDA.

I know this firsthand, as HSLDA chose to interfere in a county regulation change that local homeschoolers had worked on for months. The national organization came in and tried to take us backward, reinstating the onerous “approval before removal” clause that was causing extreme distress to parents who were desperate to pull their child out of a bad school situation in order to homeschool.

HSLDA had the temerity to chastise me for working to change the regulation without their permission, and they refused to work with me, choosing instead to ignore my request and going about things in their hamfisted way, without regard to what this regulation was doing to the affected families.

Farris and his organizations have purported to speak for all homeschoolers and his extremist views and modes of operation have often made us all look like Ruby Ridgers and worse. He is now saying that he is afraid that President Obama will (somehow) “ban homeschooling.” This, from a man who turns a pretty penny by frightening homeschoolers and others with what I call Chicken Little marketing (“They sky is falling! The sky is falling!”).

Homeschoolers would do well to put as much distance as possible between homeschooling and  Mike Farris and his extremist and mixed causes. It is imprudent and dangerous to continue to let him use homeschooling and homeschoolers as the hammer of his cause, and his non-homeschooling issues as a wedge to divide and disempower the homeschool community.

~Shay Seaborne

Related articles

• ” There Is No Right To Homeschooling “
• Obama’s DOJ targets religious freedom, again
• Our Homeschool rights may be impacted by German homeschool case
• Video: Seven Lies about Homeschoolers

Compliance with New Law AB 354

If you homeschool in California, you have probably heard of the new HSLDA recommendations for complying with AB 354, the vaccination law that says all 7th-12th graders must show proof that they have received the Tdap (whooping cough) booster by July 1, 2011.

HSLDA and Family Protection Ministry sent email alerts and mailings out to many homeschoolers, and their recommendations are being forwarded by alarmed homeschoolers.   You can read it here.

Before everyone gets in a panic over this and loses some of their rights at the same time, let’s take a breath here and examine the facts!

Yes, California has a new vaccination law, and we all know that some people vaccinate while some don’t.  California law has not removed the option to sign a belief waiver.   On that point, one can agree with HSLDA.   The details of making sure we’re all in compliance is where the difference arises.

Unfortunately, the HSLDA recommendation does the following:

It erodes the rights of parents.

HSLDA is recommending that all homeschooling parents in California do whatever the California Department of Public Health asks.     What they should be doing is standing up for our rights by encouraging everyone to observe the law as written!     We are not obligated to comply with bureaucrats who request extra of us.   When we start allowing unauthorized requests, we basically are encouraging State employees to take the law into their own hands.

It needlessly raises the fear level of homeschoolers.

The HSLDA alert is 4 pages long, full of details that are scaring parents.   They jumped on board with the Department of Public Health by endorsing the special sticker and a special Tdap form available only through the health department.

It puts homeschoolers at risk.

The Health Department has come up with a new waiver form just for the Tdap.   Nothing in the law requires a new form, but it’s part of the frenzy to make sure that every child is vaccinated.   Instead of updating the old form and putting it online, they are requiring all schools to contact their Health Department if they need a waiver.    HSLDA is recommending that all parents who file a private school affidavit individually contact their local Health Department to request the new waiver.   What is going to happen to the thousands of families who follow this advice and basically let their local Health Department know where they live, that they are homeschoolers, and that they don’t fully vaccinate?   Will they be subject to local harassment?   It’s not a risk anyone should take.

What should you do?

It’s simple enough.   The law changed, and everyone needs to either put a copy of the proof of Dtap vaccination in their child’s files or make sure they have signed the old PM 286B waiver.

Know the Code. Here are some links so you will know the law for yourself.   Knowledge is power, and don’t let anyone take that from you.   Be informed!

Here’s the link to the new law:
AB 354, Arambula. Health: immunizations.

The new law doesn’t say a new waiver form is needed just for Tdap, nor does it say that a special sticker must be in the upper left hand corner.

Need more?   How about reading existing law about waivers?   Here is the waiver law for children and school enrollment with the important part for parents in bold.   It is in the Health and Safety Code:

120365.   Immunization of a person shall not be required for admission to a school or other institution listed in Section 120335 if the parent or guardian or adult who has assumed responsibility for his or her care and custody in the case of a minor, or the person seeking admission if an emancipated minor, files with the governing authority a letter or affidavit stating that the immunization is contrary to his or her beliefs.

However, whenever there is good cause to believe that the person has been exposed to one of the communicable diseases listed in subdivision (a) of Section 120325, that person may be temporarily excluded from the school or institution until the local health officer is satisfied that the person is no longer at risk of developing the disease.

According to the law, all you need is a letter or affidavit stating that the immunization is contrary to your belief!   You don’t need to contact the health department, and you don’t need a new form.   The current one will work.   How easy is that!     Follow the law, and nothing more.   This is the safest way to preserve our right to homeschool in California.

Parental Rights?

“Through activist courts and the threat of ratifying the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), big government intrudes on families more and more. Already, the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing of their children has greatly eroded in federal courts and in such settings as public schools, local libraries, and your doctor’s office.”

— Michael Farris, president, ParentalRights.org

I have been reading more about a proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the Consititution and while the idea struck a cord — I mean who wouldn’t support a goal as lofty as Parental Rights in light of all we know is happening to the family unit, under current federal laws.

I am simply not convinced that this is the proper way of going about securing those rights. Something just didn’t sit right with me and I couldn’t put my finger on it, until I noticed the address — Purcellville, VA. When I saw that, I knew this had to be another long reaching arm of HSLDA and sadly, I was correct.

HSLDA doesn’t understand parental rights themselves, or they would not have settled for some of the worst homeschooling laws on the books in many states, and in their own backyard.

When homeschool legislation was being drafted in states like Virginia, New York, and Ohio, just to name a few, HSLDA was in the thick of it, “protecting our ‘parental rights.'” I am not alone, when I say that they sold homeschoolers out, while at the same time, ensuring plenty of legal work for their own future.

Please check out a draft copy of the proposed legislation and share your comments. I know that something needs to be done to address this issue but amending our constitution is a drastic measure that must be carefully considered, along with the impact of such an amendment on the family unit. (Note: You can read the Annotated Version here.)

What do you see as being positive about the proposed amendment? Drawbacks? Consequences? This is something that will affect every family in the country. Would you support or oppose an amendment to our Constitution?