Jackie Young started homeschooling in mid-February after an incident at public school left her fearful for her 6-year-old daughter’s safety. The Virginia mother’s effort to provide a safe haven for her daughter resulted in a charge of truancy and a summons to court.
Jackie contacted HSLDA, and our legal team was able to work efficiently toward a positive resolution, partly because we’d participated in an oddly similar case less than a year ago.
“We don’t want to call it a trend,” said Peter Kamakawiwoole, HSLDA litigation director. “But it is frustrating to see the law misapplied in the same way to the detriment of parents who are just trying to do what’s best for their children.”
Afraid of school
The crisis began early this year, when an incident at school made Jackie’s daughter feel unsafe.
Jackie contacted public school officials and even the police, but was disappointed when no one could offer a detailed plan to address the situation. Meanwhile, Jackie’s daughter developed severe anxiety at the thought of returning to public school.
A physician recommended a different academic setting for the 6-year-old, so Jackie tried to have her transferred to another public school. But officials refused to allow the transfer. In April, Jackie submitted her notice of intent to homeschool.
Paperwork problems
She ran into complications almost immediately. She spent a month going back and forth with school officials over her homeschool paperwork. Then she heard from a CPS investigator, who said Jackie’s daughter had been reported as truant.
This culminated in Jackie receiving a summons to appear in court in May. “It was just shocking,” Jackie recounted. She said it felt as though her family was being punished for something they didn’t do. Through a recommendation from Home Educators Association of Virginia, Jackie reached out to HSLDA for help.
Law gone wrong
Jackie had been brought up on charges typically invoked in cases involving disruptive public school students whose parents won’t address their kids’ dangerous behavior. HSLDA Legal Director Scott Woodruff contacted the CPS investigator and the school district’s attorney, but was unable to get the court hearing dismissed.
Kamakawiwoole ended up representing Jackie before the judge via phone. “After about a two-minute conversation, we got the case dismissed,” Kamakawiwoole recalled. “It helped that we’d successfully defended another homeschooling family facing the same sort of misuse of the law.”
As he did last year, Kamakawiwoole showed that summoning his client to court in this way was an improper application of the law. Officials are supposed to follow up on suspicions of truancy by using a completely different process.
In addition, Kamakawiwoole revealed that by the time of the court date, Jackie had received confirmation from the school district that they had received her notice of intent to homeschool. This meant she was completely in compliance with the state homeschool law.
Now that the tumult is behind her, Jackie said she’s relieved to be able to focus on teaching her daughter. They’re planning to continue through the summer with lessons on topics the 6-year-old has shown special interest in—cursive writing and speaking in Spanish. And Jackie has every intention of continuing homeschooling when the new academic year begins in the fall.
Kamakawiwoole said he’s thankful HSLDA’s legal team could draw on its collective experience to help a family overcome the reprise of a peculiar example of injustice.
“Being able to provide a safe place where their children can learn is a big reason why people choose to homeschool,” he said. “We’re here to help families invoke their legal right to home education so they can create the sanctuary their kids need and deserve.”