When 18-year-old Nathan Lao was applying for a summer internship with the local city government, he noticed the online application form offered no way for him to indicate he was homeschooled. It turned out this was no oversight—the city’s policy explicitly excluded homeschooled students from the program.

It took HSLDA’s intervention to get this discriminatory rule overturned.

Nathan and his family live in the City of South San Francisco, California. He and his siblings have been homeschooled nearly all of their educational careers. As Nathan’s father Edward explained, he and his wife Christine enrolled their son in public school for a year, but were taken aback by how it affected his character and attitude.

“We didn’t like some of the language he was coming home with,” Edward recalled. Nathan then attended a private academy for a year, but the schoolwork wasn’t a good fit for his learning style.

“He was up very late at night doing homework,” said Edward. This diminished Nathan’s ability to focus and made him dread going to class.

When they switched to homeschooling, Christine said, “We decided to try to instill a love of learning.” For the first few years, she kept formal lessons short and fun.

“We emphasized mastering a topic over volume of work,” Christine noted. They also incorporated learning opportunities at museums and parks.

Academics and Hands-On Experience

Nathan went on to develop a keen interest in history and biblical studies. Recently he’s been participating in weekly sessions at his church, diving into doctrinal matters and apologetics.

He is also enrolled in two colleges, taking courses in calculus, government, psychology, and computer programming. Nathan hopes eventually to transfer to Biola University in southern California.

Nathan looked into the possibility of the city internship after his father encouraged him to explore opportunities that would provide career-related experience, especially if they related to the teen’s affinity for automobiles and robotics. The city’s program seemed ideal. As an added benefit, the internship pledged a salary of $19 an hour.

Nathan’s hopes turned to disappointment when, during the application process in May, he learned that city officials refused to even consider homeschooled students as possible interns.

This fact was emphatically confirmed when Edward contacted city offices on behalf of his son. A letter sent in reply stated: “It is the city’s standard practice to set internship eligibility to South San Francisco public school students.”

“They seemed pretty adamant that there was nothing we could do,” Edward recalled. Then he thought: “We are HSLDA members. Why not give HSLDA a call?”

Making a Difference

Edward contacted HSLDA Senior Counsel Will Estrada, who wrote a letter to officials in South San Francisco’s city offices. Estrada explained that, in refusing to accept homeschool students as interns, the city was actually discriminating against a much larger group.

He added that, under California law, homeschools operate as a type of private school. This designation was upheld in the 2008 landmark case Jonathan L. v. Superior Court, which prompted statements in support of homeschooling from institutions including the governor’s office and the Department of Education.

Estrada concluded: “Since this is a city internship, it should be open to any high school student who resides in the City of South San Francisco, and who is in compliance with California education law.”

It didn’t take long before Estrada heard a positive response from city officials. “From the moment they received our letter, they were very understanding,” he said. Officials promised to update their internship policy to make it more accommodating, and accepted Nathan into the program.

“When I heard of the news that I will be able to participate, I was ecstatic about the skills and connections I would gain from this experience,” he said. “Plus, it’s an easy commute.”

In June the teen began a three-month stint in the public works department. He focused on learning how to track and maintain the city’s fleet of vehicles, which includes a wide range of models from passenger cars to utility trucks and fire engines.

He started by shadowing employees and observing various means for keeping records on the city’s mobile property. Then he progressed to more advanced tasks.

“Toward the end of the program I was able to get in there and get my hands dirty,” Nathan said. He noted that he did pick up a skill that should serve him throughout his adult life: “I learned how to do an oil change.”

Estrada said he was glad to have helped not just one homeschooled student, but to pave the way for other deserving internship candidates. “We are very pleased that the City of South San Francisco accepted Nathan as an intern and has changed its policy going forward,” he said. “It’s a win for their program, considering that homeschooled students are smart and dedicated citizens who bring tremendous talent to the endeavors they undertake.”