Massachusetts
A Step Backwards
For the first time in years, home schoolers took a step backwards in Massachusetts. On October 14, 1999, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals decided the case of Care and Protection of Ivan. A home schooling couple who insisted on arguing their own case without an attorney refused to provide any information to their school district. The family insisted that the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, a part of the state constitution, guaranteed them the freedom to do so. Unfortunately, the judge disagreed.
A case such as Ivan presents the home school community with a classic dilemma: Is it better to push our constitutional freedoms to their logical limits, or to avoid “rocking the boat”? Home School Legal Defense Association consistently tries to balance the maximum achievable liberty with real concern for the home school community as a whole. When families exercise their legal right to challenge the system, it is in the interest of every home schooler that they win. A loss for one hurts all of us.
Home schoolers must hang together or we shall most assuredly all hang separately. That is why HSLDA exists. With almost 70,000 families across America united to defend our rights to educate our own children in our own homes, the chance of losing a significant case is very low. When one individual challenges the system by himself, the chance of loss is great. – Scott W. Somerville
