In New York, homeschooling through a single year typically involves sending seven separate documents to the local public school superintendent’s office. For one Long Island family, questions over just one of those documents resulted in a knock on their front door at 7:30 a.m.
Dana Riccio was busy getting her children ready for their homeschool co-op when an unexpected visitor made her presence known. It was a public school official tasked with ensuring the family was okay—especially the children.
“We were really caught off guard,” Dana said.
As it turned out, the visit stemmed from a miscommunication. Dana didn’t realize it at the time, but the second quarterly homeschool report she’d emailed to the superintendent’s office never arrived.
“I never got any phone calls or emails letting me know,” she recounted. “There was no warning that an official was going to show up.”
Concerned that the encounter could escalate into further legal difficulties, Dana immediately contacted HSLDA.
Disproportionate Response
Ralph Rodriguez, HSLDA associate attorney, said Dana did the right thing. Though HSLDA’s position is that missing paperwork does not constitute neglect, he has seen cases in New York where disputes over homeschool notices or quarterly reports have led to CPS investigations.
“New York already requires an excessive amount of paperwork from homeschooling families,” he said. “It only adds to the burden of red tape when officials act aggressively to address questions that could be resolved by a friendly inquiry.”
Rodriguez contacted the school district on behalf of the Riccio family. Officials assured him they had no intention of seeking further legal action; they just wanted a copy of the missing report.
Dana then checked her personal records and discovered she had sent the report to the wrong email address. She promptly re-sent it to the correct account. Still, it upset her that the only communication she received about the missing report was a certified letter delivered the same day of the early morning visit by a government official.
Rodriguez helped arrange a conference call involving himself, Dana, and two district officials. Everyone agreed on the need for improved communication, especially given recent personnel changes in the district’s homeschool compliance office.
“We were able to facilitate something really positive,” Rodriguez noted. “We all said we wanted to have an amicable relationship.”
Improved Relations
Toward that end, officials said they planned to schedule a meeting at the local public library on homeschooling and the best way to keep in touch with the district.
And though she feels the district overstepped in sending someone to her home, Dana joined other homeschooling parents on a recent visit to the district office, bringing chocolates and flowers as a gesture of goodwill.
“We want to encourage our kids to be bold and stand up for their freedoms, and we felt like this was a good way to model that,” Dana asserted.
Rodriguez said he was pleased this particular situation ended positively, but he added that HSLDA will remain vigilant against future attempts by officials to go beyond their authority.
“HSLDA encourages our members to comply with homeschool law, but that admonition goes both ways,” he noted. “Officials need to remember that homeschooling families are invoking their constitutional rights and should not be viewed as problems that require managing."