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ROHDE ISLAND

18-year-old not subject to compulsory attendance

Soon after filing a notice of intent to homeschool their 18-year-old daughter, a member family in Coventry was surprised to receive numerous phone calls from a secretary at the public school informing them of Ashley's ^* "absences."

Because Ashley was well beyond Rhode Island's compulsory attendance age, which ends at 16, the family thought that a simple explanation would clear up the problem. However, the school truant officer who later called, threatening to investigate the family for truancy, did not agree that their 18-year-old daughter was exempt from the compulsory attendance requirement. The officer demanded that the family go through the homeschool approval process (which is only necessary for a child subject to compulsory attendance) or risk an investigation.

Ashley's family called Home School Legal Defense Association, and we sent a letter to Superintendent Vincent Hawkins notifying him that Ashley was 18 and asking him to investigate why the school harassed our member family. In a subsequent phone conversation, Superintendent Hawkins' secretary admitted that the truant officer had mistakenly assumed Ashley was still under the compulsory attendance requirement. The secretary said that she would inform the truant officer of the mistake, and promised that the school would drop the matter.

— by Scott A. Woodruff