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| Date: From: Subject: | 6/11/2010 5:20:20 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Ohio--Action Needed to Oppose Reynoldsburg Daytime Curfew |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== June 11, 2010 Ohio--Action Needed to Oppose Reynoldsburg Daytime Curfew Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, ThisWeek Community Newspapers reports that the Reynoldsburg City Council will be considering a daytime curfew for children ages 6-17 this Monday, June 14. We need you to act to oppose this legislation that undermines the freedom and liberty we enjoy in the United States. Read the article here: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=8490 . An extensive study by the National Center for School Engagement has found that daytime curfews are ineffective and may be counter-productive in dealing with truancy in public schools. To see the 230-page study use the following link: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=8491 . With this curfew in place, your children could be taken to the local police station to verify who they are and that they have a valid excuse to be in a public place. Any person who violates the ordinance could be found guilty of a misdemeanor. You would have less freedom to send your 15-year-old daughter to pick up some groceries or let your 16-year-old son go to music lessons across town. ACTION REQUESTED 1. Attend the Reynoldsburg City Council meeting Monday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the City Hall on Main Street. The curfew is on the Council's agenda. Please attend to express your opposition to this unnecessary ordinance. 2. Please contact members of the City Council to share your concerns about the proposed ordinance. Even if you aren't from Reynoldsburg, you can contact these councilmen about your concern since neighboring communities may get the same idea if the proposal passes in Reynoldsburg. You can find your city councilman's email here: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=8492 . Give them this message in your own words: "This curfew is unnecessary, as there are already strict laws in place in the Ohio Administrative Code to deal with truancy. Police already have the authority they need if a crime is being committed. Their resources should not be wasted in dealing with this issue which is a matter for school officials and parents--not the police. Furthermore, a curfew would unreasonably restrain my family's freedom and subject my children to unreasonable and unconstitutional restraint." There is no need for you to disclose that you are a homeschooler as this issue affects all parents with children. 3. Please call homeschoolers and other freedom-loving citizens in your area to alert them to this need as quickly as possible. Every person you can reach by telephone is one person more likely to stop this un-American curfew. To view the text of the proposed curfew, visit http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=8494 . BACKGROUND This problem is more than hypothetical. Even when exceptions for homeschoolers are written into the curfew law, police officers frequently presume that any school age child is truant, regardless of whether they are homeschooled. > Earlier this year, Tasha* and Brian*, 14- and 16-year-old sister and brother, were stopped by Cleveland, Ohio, police. The siblings, with schoolbooks in tow, were on their way to the library. The officer who stopped them was skeptical when they told him they were homeschooled, but he let them go with a warning that next time, they would have to prove their story in court. > Kyle* and Amy* are California homeschooled students who were out during public school hours. Both were accosted by the police. Kyle was transported to the local truancy center. Amy was ticketed. > Jacob,* a 12-year-old California homeschooler, went to the store one block from his home to buy paper for his homeschool program. A police officer picked him up, brought him home, and cited him for violation of the daytime curfew. *Not their real names. Daytime curfews interfere with parents' fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, especially for parents with children in small private schools who often work outside the classroom. Daytime curfews violate a minor's fundamental constitutional right to freedom of movement as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment on the public streets, highways and areas of the city without being subjected to prior governmental restraint. These curfews send a message to self-disciplined and responsible young people that the community makes no distinction between them and irresponsible adults who abuse freedom in ways detrimental to the community. Daytime curfews violate the fundamental legal principle of the presumption of innocence. This presumption is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Daytime curfews dangerously train young citizens to accept, as normal, constraints that are inconsistent with the freedom they should be educated to enjoy and use responsibly in their adult years. Daytime curfews result in violations of the minors' Fourth Amendment rights to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures. A policeman should not stop and question anyone unless there are actual facts that make it reasonable to suspect that a crime has occurred. If a policeman stops and questions a person without such facts, it is a violation of the citizen's rights under the Fourth Amendment. Daytime curfews are, in essence, beefed-up truancy ordinances. All states have already addressed the area of truancy in a comprehensive way. There is no need for new laws addressing the issue of truancy. The present laws addressing minors simply need to be enforced. Daytime curfews will result in selective enforcement. Since officers will not be stopping every juvenile during school hours to check their identities, they will be selective. This opens up the extremely dangerous potential for unequal treatment of minors based upon race, appearance, dress, etc. This type of ordinance will simply divert attention from real crime prevention programs and interfere with effective police work. Daytime curfews will likely result in registration of privately educated students with police departments with the attendant issuance of ID cards and badges. There is no evidence that daytime curfews significantly reduce juvenile crime during curfew hours. Statistics demonstrate that there is very little juvenile crime during these hours even when there is no daytime curfew. Additionally, the serious juvenile law-breaker will not be deterred by the daytime curfew. However, hundreds, if not thousands of innocent minors will suffer the inconvenience of unwarranted stops, detentions and harassment, not to mention the added cost for taxpayers for the enforcement of the curfew. For more information on daytime curfews, please see our analysis of this issue at: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2102 . A strategy packet for defeating daytime curfews can be found at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=8493 . Thank you for standing with us for freedom! Standing with you, Michael P. Donnelly, Esq. HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> You can only do so much... No one can be everywhere at once. And you can't be at home, teaching your children, while monitoring your state's legislature. Through electronic legislative services, HSLDA is monitoring state legislation for you -- watching and listening carefully for any proposed laws that could erode your right to homeschool. Join HSLDA today-we'll watch out for your future. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1942 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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