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Growing & Connecting
homeschool leadership email

Questions About COVID-19

by Darren Jones • June 11, 2020

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Dear homeschool leaders,

In these uncertain times [you knew I was going to start there, didn’t you? Everyone does nowadays!], HSLDA has been contacted by a lot of groups who are looking toward summer and fall events. Everyone is in a new situation, and we all want to do what is best for the homeschool families we serve.

Since “what is best” can be different for every group, here are some questions that we have put together to help your group leadership as you move forward.

Before you host an event like a graduation or start-of-school party:

  1. What does your state say?
    1. Has your governor or state Department of Health issued orders that apply to your group? Has your legislature enacted emergency laws for the COVID-19 crisis? Make sure you get the most recent information, which is usually available on your state’s website.
    2. Look carefully at the wording of these orders and laws, to figure out how your group is classified. Are you a school? Mass gathering? Private club? Religious organization?
    3. Has your state adopted all or part of the guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control? Remember that the CDC guidelines are not law by themselves.
  2. What does your local government say (county/town/city)? In some states, counties are on different schedules for re-opening businesses and schools.
  3. What does the owner of your venue say?
  4. What is covered by insurance? You should check with your agent to determine answers to at least these questions:
    1. If someone gets COVID at co-op, does insurance pay for it?
    2. If someone gets COVID at co-op and sues the group, does insurance pay for it?
    3. If someone gets COVID at co-op and sues the leader individually, does insurance pay for it?

Before you restart for the fall semester:

  1. What activities are you going to do?
    1. If you do in-person classes usually, are you going to continue those, or will you move to online instruction?
    2. If you do field trips or athletics, make sure you take a careful look at sanitization requirements that your state has.
  2. What restrictions will you have?
    1. If you rent from a church or community center, it may have different requirements for meeting now. Talk to them and figure out how these will apply to you.
    2. Who is going to enforce these restrictions?
    3. If you operate as a business, make sure you comply with any state laws that treat businesses differently from private clubs or nonprofit religious organizations.
  3. What health and safety precautions will you take?
    1. Will you need to pay for a cleaner?
    2. Have these precautions been added to your group’s Handbook or Code of Conduct?
  4. Have you had your group’s releases of liability and waivers updated by an attorney familiar with your state’s law?

If you would like to call and talk these over with a sympathetic ear, as HSLDA’s Group Services attorney, I’m just a phone call (540-338-5600) or email (darren@hslda.org) away!

God bless you all as you serve the homeschool community!

Darren A. Jones

Senior Counsel and Group Services Attorney