There was a spirited meeting at the Gooch County (VA)
School Board last night as hundreds of people attended to show their concern
about a district policy that homeschooled students (at age 14) must declare
their religious affiliation. From wric.com:
There’s controversy in
Goochland over homeschooling. It all stems from a new policy that some parents
believe violates their rights. The policy being questioned affects families
who homeschool for religious reasons.
In the past, parents had to
reach out for permission to teach their children at home. But now, the district
wants to ensure kids are on board with their parent’s plan. Something that’s
not sitting well with The Pruiett’s, who homeschool all six of their
children.
After ten years of homeschooling,
approved by the Goochland County School District, the family was stunned to
receive a letter telling them they needed to reapply for the religious exemption
that enables them to teach at home.
“We had 30 days to comply or be
forwarded for prosecution, ” says Doug Pruiett.
The school board chairperson
tells 8News, the policy enforces a state statute that requires both parents
and students request homeschooling based on religious beliefs. But the
Pruiett’s insist the policy interferes with their rights to raise their children
as they see fit.
Doug Pruiett maintains, “I
don’t believe the school board has the authority nor should they to interfere
with families schooling their children this way.”
…..I was at this board meeting last night – in the front
row – spoke, as did about 40 others, all but perhaps one strongly stating
the many reasons that the board’s decision was wrong.
The turnout by county residents was overwhelming, several
hundred with standing room only. It turned out to be a 1776 event, and
utterly awesome as one after another resident clearly provided reasoning
as to why the board’s new policy was wrong. The crowd was almost 100% supporting
the overturning of the board’s action in 2013 that resulted in the Pruitt family
being threatened with legal action requiring their children to legally
attest to their desire to be homeschooled.
About 5 attorneys spoke eloquently, being so respected by
the board that the board begged for help in how they should address the issue.
One homeschooling attorney mother, a tiny gal on fire, was awesome, as was
the HDLA, and others from pro-homeschooling groups.
But the attorney’s weren’t the only one’s hitting home runs
– so many of the other speakers did as well and if I tried to detail each one
this would be a book.
Several board members were clearly getting the message,
a couple publicly repenting of adopting their policy.
The final issue agreed to by all and presented by almost
all the speakers was parental responsibility – and that up to 18, parents
are totally responsible for their children under not only our religious
exemption, but by a 2013 Virginia law, Virginia code 22.1–254(B)(1), that
clearly states this. An astute homeshooling attorney father presented
this point.
The over 4 hour meeting was truly freedom in action, and
in the end, the board rescinded the policy that was threatening the Pruitt
family, and almost universally supported the petitions of those who showed
up to protest the destruction of their freedom in our county – a generally
very conservative one.
I’m not doing justice to all that was said and done in this
lengthy meeting – there was too much to post here – but it was an awesome
experience – and freedom won……
Here is another response from the same blog explaining the
‘bona fide’ wording requiring a student to declare his/her religious
belief:
This is way too complex to get into here.
VA has long allowed both homeschooling (where families
have to tell the school board they are doing it, AND “Religious Exemption”
from any schooling based on religious beliefs. The two are completely separate
and different.
Homeschooling requires, among other things, notification,
and providing the school board with your curricula, materials, synopsis,
and regular testing.
Religious exemption requires none of those things at all,
but is a declaration by the family they are not bound by the law that
requires children to be in school by their religious convictions. This only
requires notifying the board of your intention to be exempt and nothing else.
VA law is here:
And here is the critical section:
“B. A school board shall excuse from attendance at school:
1. Any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of
bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance
at school. For purposes of this subdivision, “bona fide religious training
or belief” does not include essentially political, sociological or philosophical
views or a merely personal moral code; and”
In 2013 the board decided, based on lawsuits in Fairfax
and another VA county that the wording “Any PUPIL along with his parents…….”by
reason of bona fide religious training or belief” meant that the board was
required to determine if the BELIEF OF THE PUPIL WAS “BONA FIDE”.
Several board members were VERY uncomfortable with this,
but 4 to 1 voted in Dec. to require the child to prove their “bona fide” belief
to the school board under this section of VA Law. They developed a horrible,
interrogative questionnaire that was required of pupils claiming the religious
exemption. This is where they went off.
A horrible questionnaire was then required of those
claiming “Religious exemption” which really doesn’t required the parents to
educate their children at all.
Wife and I are in the front row in this video…
What do you think is the original school board policy
intent to mandate 14 year old homeschooled students declare their religious
belief? Why should this have to be provided to any governmental agency?
Does the belief of a 14 year old trump parental authority? What would happen
if a 14 year old stated he/she was agnostic? Would the State then presume it
had the authority to take this child from a Christian household because the
parents’ teachings violated the child’s rights/beliefs?
Related Posts
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http://agenda21news.com/2015/01/homeschooling-parents-declared-bona-fide-guardians-wont-face-jail/
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