Oklahoma
Mannford Eagle flies straight
On July 31, the Mannford Eagle printed an article that included the following shocking statement:
Parents must contact the school if they choose to educate their children at home. There is a homeschool form that must be signed by parents that states they are taking responsibility for their child's schooling.
Home School Legal Defense Association contacted Brenda Boyd, associate editor of the Mannford Eagle, to explain that this was wrong. Oklahoma requires no such notification or form. She said that the newspaper had printed those statements based on the public school system's information.
When we contacted Mannford Public School Superintendent Emit Calloway, he agreed that the statements were wrong, but denied being the source of the erroneous information.
Boyd later found in her files a press release from a lower-level school system official that was obviously the basis for the July 31 article. We wrote a formal letter to the Mannford Eagle asking it to print a correction, which it did on August 21.
HSLDA also learned that the school system's website previously contained, but has now corrected, the same erroneous information from the old press release.
Any homeschooler who submitted a form to the school system in response to the erroneous information may wish to insist that the school system return the form to them.
Our thanks to alert local HSLDA members who brought this to our attention.
— Scott A. Woodruff
