Across the States
Utica City request exceeds law
A Home School Legal Defense Association member family in the Utica City School District received a letter stating that the Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) forms they had submitted were insufficient.
The district went on to insist that Mr. and Mrs. Hudson* provide a description of the material they intended to cover in each subject.
Since they had been homeschooling in the Utica City School District for several years and had always simply submitted a list of the curriculum materials or textbooks they intended to use, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson were surprised at this sudden change in district policy, and they promptly contacted HSLDA for help.
HSLDA Attorney Thomas Schmidt wrote to the school district, pointing out that § 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education requires the parent to list the syllabi, curriculum materials, textbooks, or plan of instruction in the IHIP. While the parent is required to provide a description of the material covered in each subject for quarterly reports, the description is not appropriate for the IHIP.
After receiving HSLDA’s letter, the Utica City School District dropped its request for additional information.
— by Thomas J. Schmidt
*Name changed to protect family’s privacy.
