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Grain Valley Daytime Curfew Adopted
Despite significant citizen opposition, the Grain Valley Board of Aldermen adopted a daytime curfew in August 2009 that will impact the freedom of school-age children out in public during school hours.
Although, as written, the curfew does not apply to homeschoolers, it still may have a chilling effect on homeschooled students’ ability to enjoy their liberty. The primary threat to homeschool freedom lies not in the curfew itself, but in the possibility that, as local officials enforce the curfew, homeschooled children will be investigated and harassed when they are out in public during public school hours. Even though lawfully homeschooled children could not be found guilty of violating the ordinance, they could be made to feel like criminals.
Home School Legal Defense Association Staff Attorney Scott Woodruff, Brad Haines (Families for Home Education), and local homeschooling parents opposed the bill. However, rather than address the root of Grain Valley’s truancy problem, which lies within the walls of the public school system, the aldermen chose the easier target—those outside the schools—and passed the curfew.
If you are an HSLDA member in the Grain Valley area, we recommend that you keep doing exactly what you have been doing. Let your kids go out during the day and let them enjoy their freedom.
If any government official questions you or your child in connection with this curfew, let HSLDA know right away so we can protect your rights. And remember that all of the aldermen will be up for re-election, so take note of how they voted on the curfew.
— by Scott A. Woodruff
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