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School Demands Records
During the winter of 2008, a Home School Legal Defense Association member family in Clay County was
contacted by their school district’s pupil personnel office. The school requested that the Carr family (name changed to
protect family’s privacy) submit “samples
of work, grades, and attendance” for
their two children. Since the family had submitted their notice of intent to the school district within two weeks of the beginning of the school year—as required by Kentucky law—they contacted HSLDA for help.*
HSLDA Staff Attorney Thomas Schmidt informed the family that since they had submitted their notice to the school district as required, they were presumed to be operating a bona fide school. Under the Best Practices Document developed by state homeschool leaders and the Kentucky Directors of Pupil Personnel, homeschooling parents do not need to submit any additional information if they submit their notice on time.
A family should only need to provide documentation of their scholarship reports and attendance records if the local school district has evidence that the family is
not operating a bona fide school. If the family files their notice after the first two weeks of the school year, the school district may request this additional documentation as well.
Since HSLDA wrote a letter to the school district, we are pleased to report that the member family has been left alone.
* See “A plethora of forms.”
— by Thomas J. Schmidt
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