| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
< BACK TO ARCHIVE |
| Date: From: Subject: | 10/6/2004 4:48:05 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Massachusetts--Help Defend Homeschooling! |
|
====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== October 6, 2004 Massachusetts--Help Defend Homeschooling! Dear HSLDA members and friends: In late August Dr. Michael Zapantis, superintendent of the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District, sent a draft homeschool policy to an HSLDA member family in that district. They promptly forwarded it to me. The proposed policy was outrageous, requiring parents to do the following: * List the "minutes per week" they taught each subject; * Turn in next year's application by May 15 of each year; * Agree to "pre-assessment and post-assessment testing," to use any test required by the superintendent, over and above standardized testing; * Allow the testing to be administered by personnel designated by the superintendent with the date, time, and place of the testing to be determined by the superintendent; * Keep a weekly log of activities accomplished; and * Submit work samples for review. I promptly wrote Dr. Zapantis to remind him that homeschooling is a matter of constitutional right, with multiple Supreme Judicial Court rulings that limit the power of school districts. In particular, I advised him that any school district regulations must be both "reasonable" and "essential." I asked him to forward my letter to the members of his school committee and to his school district's attorney. We have just received word that Dr. Zapantis has now scheduled a "forum" on homeschooling, to be held at the Overlook Middle School Library in Ashburnham. The forum will take place Wednesday, October 13, at 6:00 p.m. in the middle school library. We need active homeschoolers from north-central Massachusetts to help defend homeschool freedoms in Ashburnham-Westminster. If you can attend this meeting, please e-mail me at Scott@hslda.org . Please use mapquest or some other service to get direction to 10 Oakmont Drive, Ashburnham, MA 01430 or call the school at 978-827-1425 for directions. Please bring well-behaved children if you think they are able to endure an evening meeting of some length. (Try not to bring small children who might be a distraction.) If you have teenagers who would like to speak out in support of homeschooling, this might be their first opportunity to stand up for liberty in the public square. You do not have to be prepared to speak to attend this meeting. Your presence will make a difference to the handful of homeschoolers who are now facing the very real possibility of a harsh homeschool policy. If you cannot attend, consider babysitting for someone who can. If you are not within driving distance of Ashburnham, please pray for those who are! Sincerely, Scott W. Somerville, Esq. Home School Legal Defense Association ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> "I saved my entire membership fee with one discount" "When I called Liberty to find out what kind of discount we could get, they told us we would 10% off our car insurance and 5% off our homeowner's insurance. What we will save is more than double what it costs to join HSLDA. With one child getting his driver's license this year, the savings will be a real blessing!" More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1108 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. Box 3000 Purcellville, Virginia 20134 Phone: (540) 338-5600 Fax: (540) 338-2733 Email: info@hslda.org Web: http://www.hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Subscribe: - Subscribe to the HSLDA E-lert Service at our website: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe - Or send an email with name and complete mailing address to: subscribe@hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription Information: - You subscribed to the HSLDA E-lert Service as: {{Email}} - To unsubscribe from the HSLDA E-lert Service send an email from the email address you want to unsubscribe to: unsubscribe@hslda.org - To change your email address or make other changes to your subscription, visit the HSLDA E-lert Service account web page at: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTMASTERS: This message is being sent to the most recent address we have for our subscribers. If this is an invalid email address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this email address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any email sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send email to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also email staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
