URGENT ACTION ALERT

a division of Home School Legal Defense Association	December 12, 2000

Urgent Alert for Home Schoolers in Sweden and Germany

Home School Families in Other Countries Need Your Help!

Throughout the world, more and more parents are wanting to home school their children. However, many countries either do not allow it or make it very difficult.HSLDA is thankful that we can bless home schoolers in other countries in a small way by advising them on legal strategies, corresponding with government officials, and sending out periodic alerts to HSLDA members asking them to contact foreign embassies on behalf of fellow home schoolers. These alerts and the incredible response from U.S. home schoolers have helped legalize home schooling in South Africa, stop a very restrictive home school bill in Ireland, and dismiss a case against a home school family in Germany. We ask that you take a few minutes in this season of giving and e-mail the Swedish and German embassies to help the outnumbered and harassed home school families in these two countries.

SWEDEN

The Magnus Drysen family is home schooling family with three children (ages 7, 10, and 12) in Vingaker, Sweden. They are in court facing both a fine of $4500 for home schooling and an order to send their children to government school. The court is holding an important hearing on their case on December 14.

Home schooling is technically allowed under strict government approval. Under section 10 of their federal compulsory attendance law “A child of compulsory school attendance age shall be permitted to do their school duty in another way than what is stated in this law, if it is regarded as a equivalent alternative to the education that otherwise is accessible to the child according to what is stated in the law.” Every school district applies this vague law in a different manner. Home school families are forced to flee from their homes to other more tolerant areas in Sweden. Some have simply fled the country in order to home school more freely. The Swedish Minister of Education recently expressed on a TV program that she wants to change the laws in Sweden to make it even more difficult for Swedish home schoolers.

ACTION:

1) Please immediately e-mail or call the Swedish embassy with this message (in your own words):

“Swedish families are being harassed for simply practicing their fundamental right to home school. Some are in court and others have fled to other parts of Sweden or other countries. We urge you to communicate to the Swedish government that they need to guarantee the right of all parents to choose home schooling and immediately dismiss the case against the Magnus Drysen family in Vingaker. Protecting this basic human right of parents is essential for any progressive democracy. Home schooling really works and it produces well-socialized, academically advanced students.”

Also include a paragraph or two on how home schooling benefits your family.

(E-mail or call throughout December and January)
Swedish Ambassador Jan Eliasson
1501 M Street, NW
Washington DC 20005
Telephone: (202) 467-2600
Fax: (202) 467-2656
ambassaden.washington@foreign.ministry.se

2) E-mail a copy of your letter to the Swedish Minister of Education, Ingegerd Warnersson, (registrator@education.ministry.se) who was recently on TV stating that she will work this coming year on legislation to increase restrictions on home schoolers.

3) Please pray that home schooling will become clearly legal in Sweden so children can be thoroughly trained in the Lord.

GERMANY

After HSLDA launched a nationwide alert on June 5, thousands of calls jammed the phone system of the German Embassy protesting the criminal prosecution of a German family, the Harders, for their choice to home school. An embassy official confirmed that he received at least 1000 e-mails and over 300-400 letters from concerned home schoolers. The official also said the embassy informed the German government about the outpouring of public opinion.

By the end of June, the scheduled court hearing of the Harders had been inexplicably canceled. A few days later, their attorney, Frau Eckerman, received a formal notice that the case was dismissed and charges dropped.

However, another family who is being severely persecuted has asked for our help. The Eberhard Kaula family (4 children) in [Etzelwang] Bavaria is being repeatedly prosecuted for simply choosing to home school. Their persecution is in the form of fines. Their first fine of $800 was dismissed on a technical flaw on appeal. In May and June they were fined another $1000 and $1500. Both fines were unsuccessfully appealed. In November another fine of $1000 was levied. Although deadlines have passed, the Kaulas have steadfastly refused to put their children in government school. The apparent goal is to financially force this family to concede to the wishes of the state, disregarding their conscience. The courts have reasoned that home schooling is not in the best interest of the children.

In the meantime, Mr. Kaula has asked the President of Germany and the Minister President of Bavaria for help without success. The Bavarian Ministry of Culture answered on behalf of the Minister President, saying that no exception can be made for the children to use a home school correspondence school. They said that a correspondence school does not qualify as a school as required by the mandatory school attendance law.

REQUESTED ACTION:

Your calls and e-mails have worked before. In order to help the home schoolers in Germany, we urge you to call or write the German Embassy immediately (through the months of December and January) and give them the following message:

“The continuing persecution of home schoolers is an embarrassment and shame to Germany. Although the Harders’ home school case was dismissed this summer, other innocent home school families such as the Eberhard Kaula family in [Etzelwang] Bavaria are still being prosecuted. A parent’s right to direct the education of his children is a fundamental right that must be protected for every free nation. We request that you urge the government to immediately drop the pending fines and dismiss the case against the Kaula family and urge the government to legalize home schooling throughout Germany.”

We encourage you to rephrase this message in your own words and include a few paragraphs in your letter describing the benefits of home schooling to your family. The whole family should participate in this project of writing letters to the German Embassy. This is a great educational opportunity for your children to learn the importance of the freedoms we have in the United States and how easily such freedoms can be taken away.

Your decision to contact the embassy may determine the success or failure of the German home school movement.

1. Call or e-mail the German Embassy:

Ambassador Juergen Chrobog
German Embassy
4645 Reservoir Rd.
Washington, DC 20007-1998
Tel.: (202) 298-4000
Fax: (202) 298-4249 or 333-2653
Ge-embus@ix.netcom.com and embassypress@germany-info.org (send to both e-mail addresses)

2. Email a copy to Ministerin Monika Hohlmeier, Bayerisches Staatsministerium fur Unterricht and Kultus, in Munich, Germany at: monika.hohlmeier@stmukwk.bayern.de

3. Pray for endurance and protection for these courageous families.

4. In August, we helped establish a legal defense organization for home schoolers called “Schulunterricht zu Hause” (School Instruction at Home). They are dedicated to winning and protecting the right of parents to choose home schooling. (Their primary lawyer, Gabriele Eckermann, is representing the Kaula family). If you want to financially support or send a note of encouragement, you can contact them at the following address or phone number (English or German):

Schulunterricht zu Hause
Tel.: 011-49-7652-981912
Fax: 011-49-7652-981911
Email: info@german-homeschool.de.

Thank you for standing together for freedom with your fellow home schooling families around the world.

Chris Klicka
Senior Counsel