| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 4/5/2006 4:20:15 PM Home School Legal Defense Association HSLDA Confronts Harford County's Child Interrogation Tactics |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== April 5, 2006 HSLDA Confronts Harford County's Child Interrogation Tactics Dear Harford County HSLDA Members and Friends, A Harford County pupil personnel worker called to remind a member family about their year-end portfolio review, then dropped a bombshell. The official asked the parents to bring their children to his office so he could question them. Perplexed and troubled by this unusual request, the family immediately called us for advice. Home School Legal Defense Association promptly called the official, who said he wanted to ask the kids if they enjoyed homeschooling and were getting enough to eat. He said he was going to ask the kids to draw a picture for him. Child abuse investigators often ask children to draw pictures, then "interpret" the pictures using Freudian and other psychoanalytic techniques that they believe will reveal whether abuse is going on in the home. It was obvious the school official was confusing his job with that of a child welfare worker. He was treating this family as if they had been reported for child abuse, and evidently intended to conduct his own personal investigation of every homeschooling family with whom he dealt. We confronted the official and firmly explained he had no legal authority for this. He conceded we were correct and withdrew his request. HSLDA subsequently learned that all eight Harford County pupil personnel workers had attended a meeting where the school system's supervisor of psychological and pupil services urged them to use these tactics. HSLDA will follow this troubling situation closely. Treating all homeschool families like child abuse suspects is intolerable and unlawful. The best defense, however, is for every homeschool family to understand their rights and the limits on the authority of officials. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> "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: ##ToAddress## - 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. ====================================================================== | |
