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| Date: From: Subject: | 9/15/2011 4:39:54 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Kentucky: Action Requested--Covington Daytime Curfew Meeting |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Kentucky: Action Requested--Covington Daytime Curfew Meeting Dear HSLDA Members and Friends in Covington: We were informed yesterday that the Covington City Commission will be reading and likely voting on a strict daytime curfew early next week. If you live in or around Covington, we urge you to contact the City Commission members and consider coming to the meeting. The Covington City Commission will be discussing a proposed change to the current juvenile nighttime curfew ordinance sec.132.13 to prohibit school-age children from being out in public without their parents during regular school hours. As currently worded the proposed ordinance would require the police department to prevent any citizen under the age of 18 from being in "any public assembly, building, place, location or business open to the public, or traveling upon a sidewalk, street, highway or other public right-of-way within the city when the child is required to be in attendance at either public or private school, unless the child is accompanied by a parent, guardian, or other adult person." In general, if the ordinance were to be passed, parents would only be able to give permission for their children to be out in public during school hours for limited purposes or a school-related activity. Plus, with the ordinance in place, your child would likely be stopped any time they were out in public during school hours. Just one situation that HSLDA has encountered highlights the possible problems that could occur if the daytime curfew is passed in Covington. Jacob,* a 12-year-old homeschooler in California, went to the store one block from his home on February 2, 2006, to buy paper for his homeschool program after his mother realized they had run out. While he was out, a police officer picked him up, brought him home, and cited him for violation of the daytime curfew. Under the proposed changes, police officers would have the authority to issue citations to citizens they believe to be in violation of this new curfew and transport minors to school, home or their parents. HSLDA will be writing a letter in opposition to the proposed daytime curfew. However, your calls and emails to city commission members are needed to defeat this outrageous proposal that could threaten the freedom of homeschooling families in Covington. Action Requested: 1. Please contact members of the Covington City Commission by telephone or email this week and express your opposition to the proposed ordinance. You can find out more about the city commission here: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=12379 . The city clerk can be contacted by calling (859) 292-2314. 2. Attend the meeting of the city council next Tuesday, September 20, at 6:00 p.m. in the Commission Chambers at 638 Madison Avenue to demonstrate your opposition to the proposed ordinance. 3. Forward this email to other homeschooling families who are not members of HSLDA and ask them to take the same action. BACKGROUND 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. 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 U.S. Constitution. Daytime curfews violate 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. 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 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 ID, 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. 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. 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 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 can result in registration of privately educated students with police departments with the attendant issuance of ID cards and badges. Curfew Anecdotes Kyle*, a California homeschooler, was out during public school hours. He was picked up by the police and transported to the local truancy center. If convicted, he would have faced a fine of $195. Amy,* who is homeschooled, lives just outside of the Los Angeles city limits. One morning in 2005, before departing to attend her uncle's funeral, she took a short walk. She was then accosted by a police officer who ticketed her for being on the street in violation of Los Angeles' Daytime Loitering Ordinance. On September 9, 1999, Adam,* age 13, was stopped, detained, and issued a citation by a Los Angeles police officer. He had been walking on the sidewalk with no apparent unlawful purpose. On the day Adam received the citation, his homeschool was not in session. Fairhaven Christian Academy did not open for the school year until four days later. * names changed to protect privacy. For more information on daytime curfews, please see our analysis of this issue at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2102 . Please contact the city commission members now! Very truly yours, Thomas J. (Tj) Schmidt HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Remember the last time you wrote a term paper? Research can be grueling-digging through archives, wading through articles, conducting interviews. But if it's related to homeschooling, you can relax a little. There's a good chance that you'll find what you're looking for in HSLDA's bimonthly Home School Court Report. Providing in-depth, insightful articles on much of what affects the world of homeschoolers, the Court Report is a must-read for the serious homeschooler. This publication is provided free to each HSLDA member. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1933 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
