I have decided that I would like to share some of the dealings we've been having lately with our department of education. You can read some history about it here. This first letter is the one from last night, to the home study department. I have left names out:

Dear _________,

Thank you for taking time today to outline your concerns regarding the teacher assessments completed for our children. My understanding of those concerns is that you believe teacher assessment letters should provide more detailed information, so you can judge that progress was made from year to year. Specifically, you would want to see indications of materials in some way, i.e. titles of books read, or specific forms of assessment (standardized tests), for each individual area of study, so that progress can be tracked by your office, and a determination can be made that progress is occurring. My impression is that you believe this is a statutory requirement.

 I indicated that it is our understanding that the assessing certified teacher is the one who determines if adequate progress is made from year to year, and this is then reported in an assessment letter to your office. Vermont certifies teachers and gives them authority to perform these assessments and make a report to your office. In this way, the law provides that no matter who is employed at the Home Study office, a VT certified teacher did the assessments of the children. While we do not agree that these assessments exceed the assessments of the child’s parent educators, [my wife and I] do comprehend the written requirements of the law.

It should be evident that there is nothing that could be provided in a few words by a teacher that would in any way allow you or anyone in your office to make an accurate determination of the progress our children made. That kind of detailed assessment would need to include a personal portfolio, which we are not willing to provide for privacy reasons: that is why we chose the teacher assessment option. We regularly assess our children’s progress, but provide the teacher’s assessment to fulfill the state’s requirement, a requirement against which we have strongly held religious convictions, as you know.

You and I also discussed that for many years our family, as well as many other families in Vermont, have provided letters indicating that a teacher assessed progress in the ‘course of study’ and ascertained that progress had been made. Now that you have taken the position as Homeschool Coordinator, you stated that these letters are no longer sufficient, even though they previously met the requirements for a teacher letter under the VT homestudy law. This appears to be a shifting standard that is arbitrary. We submitted our materials in good faith based on a well established history.

The only question ever raised about our letters occurred recently over concern that we prepared the form letters our teachers used for reporting after they completed their assessment. I mentioned that [my wife] and I feel the context that concern was raised in was ethically questionable, because Ms. _______ insinuated that we did the assessment, while she was well aware from a phone conversation with the teacher that assessments were conducted by the certified teacher! To meet that concern this year, our teacher prepared his own letters, a fact which you verified with me (even though our cover letter specifically addressed this) and which you later verified with the assessing teacher.

When you spoke on the phone today with our assessing teacher, Mr. _________, he assured you that he assessed each child individually; that he knows our children; that he wrote the letters; he was extremely cooperative about discussing his assessment methods with you; he gave you his opinion of our children, that they are, “at and above grade level in all subject areas”; and he told you he saw our program’s future educational planning outlined.

He chose not to disclose personal private information about the educational materials in our household, such as titles of books our children read -- he referred these questions to “the [family] or their lawyer”, stating that he understood this to be a “religious and civil rights issue”. He was then summarily told he would be “subpoenaed to a hearing” and told “you realize your teacher license is involved”. In retrospect, this VT teaching professional feels he has been insulted and threatened for cooperating with you.

The yearly teacher assessments have been extremely burdensome to our conscience before God, so earlier this year we sought reprieve by lawfully requesting an assessment waiver. Since then, we have had our integrity questioned and our religious waiver threatened. In good faith, we included teacher assessments in our 2006-2007 notification, while the assessment waiver issue is still being resolved. 

The record shows we contacted the VT Home Study Department soon after moving to Vermont and have openly engaged in cooperative, transparent dialogue to maintain compliance with the home study law.

You stated there is going to be a form letter that teachers should use. You are asking us to meet this new form, when it hasn’t even been issued and our materials are already submitted. You said you have a right to do that because our notification is not yet ‘complete’. Lack of preparedness on the part of DOE Home Study Program for the on-going reporting year does not invalidate our homestudy program. Additionally, my family should not have to waste further time and money to meet a shifting standard that is not yet promulgated! As I pointed out in our conversation, our teacher assessment letters meet the standards for such a letter in every way listed in the law.

My suggestion to you was that the state should issue this form and let it go through a vetting process within the community during the coming year, to work out the usual kinks, before trying to apply it ex post facto to our notification.

From our conversation I believe we have a difference in philosophy regarding implementation of the homeschool statutes. I am hopeful that this can be readily resolved. You indicated that you will talk to legal counsel to determine where you stand. I am copying this letter to Mr. _________, my attorney with Homeschool Legal Defense Association, so that he can act on our behalf.

Signed [by my husband]

Well, there it is, except for a last paragraph about dates.

Next time I would like to post our 2^nd letter to this Commissioner.

Have a nice day!