November 12, 2007
Demand For GED Rebuffed
Recently, a Home School Legal Defense Association member family was proud to find out that their daughter had graduated at the top of her class in an emergency medical technician training program. Tiffany Vincent had breezed through the written exam and passed the skills exam with the highest score.
The final step was to sit for the National Register Exam for state certification. The Vincent family anticipated that their daughter Tiffany would demonstrate her competence, knowledge and ability on this exam as she had in her class.
However, the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services told Tiffany that she would not be able to sit for the exam, because they were not going to accept her homeschool diploma or transcripts. Tiffany was told that she must produce a diploma issued by the Department of Education or get a GED.
The Vincent family immediately called HSLDA for assistance. Staff Attorney Tj Schmidt responded by contacting the Kentucky Board of EMS and their legal staff. Schmidt indicated that refusing to accept Tiffany’s homeschool diploma could be seen as discriminatory. Under state law, Tiffany should be eligible for all rights and privileges extended to Kentucky private school students. Shortly after receiving HSLDA’s letter, the Board changed its decision and allowed Tiffany to sit for the National Register Exam.
Tiffany passed the Register exam with flying colors and is on her way to continuing her education while practicing emergency medicine. When notifying HSLDA that she passed, Tiffany stated, “You have saved me from having to take the GED and having being labeled a high school ‘dropout’.”
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