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| Date: From: Subject: | 3/21/2011 4:17:55 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Wisconsin--Call to Stop "Intermittent Attendance" Threat |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Wisconsin--Call to Stop "Intermittent Attendance" Threat Dear Members and Friends in Stoughton, Wisconsin: On Wednesday, March 23 at 6 p.m., the Stoughton Public Safety Committee will take up a piece of legislation that could be used to attack families who are thinking about homeschooling. The proposed ordinance forbids and punishes--but does not define--"intermittent attendance." Forbidding something that is undefined is bad policy. It creates traps for law-abiding citizens. And it gives judges broad power to interpret it the way they want. It is not uncommon for families to switch back and forth from homeschooling a couple of times before making up their mind. Their freedom must be protected. But an activist judge could decide this was the crime of "intermittent attendance." Furthermore, state law does not authorize towns to forbid "intermittent attendance." ACTION REQUESTED Please call or visit all members of the Public Safety Committee and ask them to remove "intermittent attendance" from the proposed ordinance. (The daytime curfew provision has already been removed.) CONTACT INFORMATION The members of the public safety committee are: Ross Scovotti, Chair Tim Carter, Vice-Chair Greg Leck, Police Chief, Email: gleck@ci.stoughton.wi.us, Phone: (608) 873-4057 Pili Hougan, Deputy City Clerk, Email: mhougan@ci.stoughton.wi.us , Phone: (608) 646-0423 Ron Christianson Larry Weiss BACKGROUND You may be told that "intermittent attendance" is already forbidden. This is not correct. Here is the explanation. Legal action can be taken against a parent who fails to send his child to school as required by Wisconsin statute 118.15, the compulsory attendance law. But this statute does not forbid "intermittent attendance." Legal action can be taken against a student for "habitual truancy" under several different statutes. However, those statutes do not forbid "intermittent attendance." One does not encounter the phrase "intermittent attendance" until simple truancy is defined. Wisconsin statute 118.16(c) defines simple truancy to include "intermittent attendance." But this statute does NOT FORBID simple truancy! Instead, Wisconsin statute 118.16 presents simple truancy as a subject on which public schools may enact policies for their own students. For example, Wisconsin statute 118.16(4)(c) says a public school may adopt a policy to require a public school student to serve detention for simple truancy. It might be appropriate for a public school to discipline public school students for "intermittent attendance." But there is no justification to apply that concept beyond the school walls. This is confirmed in Wisconsin statute 118.163. It permits towns to enact ordinances against simple truancy, but under a definition that--importantly--does NOT include "intermittent attendance." The type of simple truancy against which towns are authorized to enact ordinances is: "a pupil ... absent from school without an ... excuse ... for part or all of a day... " 118.163(1)(d). The proposed Stoughton ordinance goes beyond the authority the state legislature has granted because it tries to forbid "intermittent attendance." It would be appropriate for Stoughton public schools to adopt policies to give their students detention for "intermittent attendance." But it would be unlawful for the town of Stoughton to criminalize it. It would not only be unlawful, but it could be used to threaten the constitutional rights of families who have not yet made up their mind about homeschooling--families who may switch back and forth a couple of time before resolving on a long-term plan. Thank you for standing with us for freedom! 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
