Across the States
Wood County Corrects Error
After filing her notice of intent to homeschool, Home School Legal Defense Association member
Gail Trent was surprised to receive a letter back from the Wood County public school, telling her she needed to use the public school system’s own form.* Additionally, the letter indicated that she must teach 315 minutes per day, that only “qualified” persons could teach, and that the state content standards for each grade must be taught.
Concerned, Mrs. Trent called HSLDA for help. Staff attorney Scott Woodruff followed up and called the official who had sent the letter.
The official immediately acknowledged that families are not required to use the school system’s form. He also agreed that families operating under the notice of intent option (which is commonly used) are not subject to the requirements for minutes of instruction, qualifications of teachers, and subject content. These standards apply only to families operating under West Virginia Code 18-1-1(c)(1), the approval option, which is much more restrictive than the notice of intent option.
We expect that in the future, the school system will not confuse families by sending approval option information to those who have clearly indicated they want to operate under the notice option. We also expect that notices of intent will not be rejected merely because families do not use the school system’s form.
However, Wood County’s notice of intent form is a model for other counties to follow in that it requires no information beyond what the law requires. Woodruff and Wood County officials worked
together a couple of years ago to revise the form so that today it lines up squarely under the law.
— by Scott A. Woodruff
* See “A plethora of forms”
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