I am sharing this NCHE ALERT with the homeschoolers in NC. Please read this alert and be advised that the DNPE is starting meetings on the eastern side of the state, and they are asking for more information than is prescribed by NC Law. Please do not provide more information than is required by law. We want to protect our homeschool freedoms in this state by not over-complying with any request by the DNPE.
Here is the ALERT:
DNPE Accelerates Review Meeting Schedule - NCHE Recommends Not
Participating:
This alert can be found at: http://nche.com/alert/index.html
Text of Rod Helder's Letter:
Click for Scan of Letter (will
open in new window) • Jump to NCHE Response
Transcript:
Monday, October 9, 2006
Dear Home School Administrator:
Instead of our coming to your home this year for a school record review
visit, you have been randomly selected to ask if you would voluntarily come to
meet with a representative of this office (name given below) on the date and at
the location stated below. The meeting will last no longer than 25 minutes.
Please call this office within the next TEN days to arrange a specific
appointment time. If you cannot attend or you are no longer home schooling your
children please call or write this office within ten days of the above date and
so state.
If you can arrange to come, please plan to bring the following to the
meeting:
1. Students (those aged 7 through 17) currently enrolled in your school;
2. Student attendance records for the current school year
3. Student disease immunization records
4. Results from the most recently administered nationally standardized
achievement test
5. Optional -- Textbook list; this year's daily log/lesson plan book;
examples of student work, etc. which you might want to voluntarily show to our
staff representative.
6. Any questions or suggestions you may have.
We greatly appreciate the North Carolina home schooling community's
cooperation in meeting with us and look forward to hearing from you within the
next ten days.
Sincerely,
(signed)
Rod Helder
Director
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 2006 from 10:00 a.m.--5:00 p.m.
DNPE Representative: Kristy Daughtry
LOCATION/DIRECTIONS: WEST DISTRICT POLICE STATION BEHIND THE WALMART IN
GARNER STATION. THE ADDRESS IS 1809 GARNER STATION. IF YOU NEED MORE
DIRECTIONS PLEASE CALL 919.722.8810
NCHE Response:
(RALEIGH, October 10, 2006) The state Division of
Non-Public Education has sent letters to randomly selected second year
homeschoolers in the Raleigh/Johnston County area asking them to
"voluntarily come and meet with a representative of this office" at a
local police station. The letter asked families to "please bring ...
students (those aged 7 through 17) currently enrolled in your school ..."
along with records and materials beyond those required by the state homeschool
law.
The November 2 meeting date also accelerated the program start by two
weeks and began in the Triangle rather than the mountains, as previously
announced by DNPE and communicated in NCHE's last E-brief message.
The October 9 letter stresses the voluntary nature of the meetings but asks
for a number of items which are not required by any part of the homeschooling
statute. The opening sentence implies that attendance at the meeting is the
alternative to an inevitable home visit from the state. Item 5, requesting "[a]
textbook list; this year's daily log/lesson plan book; examples of student work,
etc.", while labeled both optional and voluntary, asks for items are not subject
to state review. Item 1, requesting to meet students, does not even have that
disclaimer.
NCHE President Ernie Hodges attempted to contact DNPE Director Rod
Helder this morning and express our opposition to the location of this
meeting and wording of this message, but he is out of the office for the week.
While homeschoolers have enjoyed a peaceful regulatory environment under Mr.
Helder's administration, these meetings exceed the legal requirements on several
points, and NCHE strongly recommends against participating.
As the DNPE letter acknowledges, these meetings are not required by law and
you cannot be penalized for choosing not to attend. In addition, there are only
three records required by statute -- attendance, immunization, and testing --
and DNPE has no legal standing to ask to meet your children, review your
curriculum, or examine student work or teacher plans. Although the additional
records were called optional and voluntary, the bringing of children to a police
station was not. If you do choose to participate, NCHE recommends you
do not bring records other than those mentioned in the law and nothing further,
especially not your students. Remember the requirement to bring your
children clearly exceeds the law since seeing them cannot be required even on a
home visit.
While we urge full compliance with all requirements of the
law, NCHE does not endorse this action by DNPE. With all due respect
to state authorities, including DNPE Director Rod Helder, we recommend that
homeschoolers decline this invitation to provide extra-legal information to the
state.
If you have received one of these letters and would like to discuss
its contents, please contact NCHE at nche@nche.com or (919)
790-1100.
======================================================
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mission without your continued support.
Thanks to all of you from the NCHE
Office Staff and Board of Directors.
The NCHE Update Team
================================
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message. Contact the office at nche@nche.com with any
questions.
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