Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Jim Mason:
Home School Legal Defense Association brought suit against the city of Los Angeles for arresting high schoolers Kiethan and Miranda Smith, when they hadn’t even had a chance to demonstrate their innocence. But we weren't alone in our pursuit of social justice. Out of the blue, the Community Rights Campaign group in LA contacted HSLDA about uniting forces at a public hearing Los Angeles was holding on the daytime curfew.

The curfew had upset the Community Rights Campaign, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. Homeschoolers weren’t the only ones being unfairly treated. Black and Hispanic students in poorer sections of the city were being more heavily cited. These citations made families put their lives on hold for a day—students had to miss an entire day of school, and parents had to miss work, for the hearing. If it was meant to keep students in school, the curfew was backfiring.

HSLDA rallied our local members in preparation for the hearing. Many homeschooling families showed up to give testimonies about the curfew’s impact.

In an unusual alliance, HSLDA, the ACLU, and the Community Rights Campaign pointed out the unjust effects of daytime curfews.

And it worked! The LA Police Department laid out a new policy that gave homeschoolers a clear and easy way to prove they are exempt from the curfew. And the LAPD decided to enforce the curfew in a way that would actually reduce truancy—by looking at the spirit of the curfew.

For Home School Heartbeat, I’m Jim Mason.