Extra-Legal Homeschooler Harassment: Happens Often, But It's Not News

Photo of Tom Blumer.
By Tom Blumer (Bio | Archive)
November 26, 2008 - 13:14 ET

This is not a promo for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) per se, as there may be other similarly effective organizations out there to help families who homeschool their kids.

But if the following examples don't prove that homeschooled children and their parents need to have access to legal help at a moment's notice, I don't know what will. I will present blood-boiling excerpts here, but strongly advise all to read the full stories at the links.

First, the HSLDA reported the following incident at their web site on November 6 (HT One News Now):

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The Smiths (named changed to protect privacy), an HSLDA member family in Miami, received an unexpected note on their front door from a social worker asking them to call the number on an attached business card. Little did they know, this was the beginning a nightmare they would not soon forget.

The father, a doctor, telephoned as requested. The social worker to whom he spoke asked to meet the family. Dr. Smith requested that the meeting be at a neutral site at a time that would minimize interruptions in his busy work schedule at a medical clinic. The social worker refused, and declared she would arrive at the Smith home the next morning to “enter the home and interview the children.”

Dr. Smith then asked what the allegations were. The social worker refused to answer, but indicated she knew the family homeschooled. Sure enough, when the social worker showed up at the Smiths’ doorstep the next morning, she again refused to explain what the allegations against the family were. This clearly violated federal law, which states that social workers must reveal allegations at the initial time of contact.

The social worker also did not have a search warrant, so Mrs. Smith initially refused to let her enter the family home. This prompted the social worker to call for two police officers.

With this intimidation, Mrs. Smith allowed the social worker to start talking to the children on the front porch. During the first interview, the social worker went so far as to lift up the shirt of the Smiths’ 9-year-old daughter, which greatly embarrassed the girl. Later, the family learned that the allegations had nothing to do with their 9-year-old.

At this point, Mrs. Smith called HSLDA, desperate for help.

..... (at one point) the social worker had one of the police officers move toward Dr. Smith, and she told the officer to handcuff him so she could remove his children from the home.

After being threatened to this extreme, the family felt they had no choice but to let the social worker into their home to interview the children, who were now crying and wailing. During the interview, the social worker would not let the witness the family provided be present. She also proceeded to lift the shirts and clothing of each child, even those whom the allegations did not concern.

The social worker found nothing—but said still she wanted the family to “undergo a formal psycho-social assessment."

On November 18, HSLDA reported on a drawn-out drama in Missouri:

In March, Shari Egarta told the elementary school teachers for her four children that she would be homeschooling them the following year. In May, she followed up with a letter to the principal. On the last day of school, a school counselor told Mrs. Egarta to fill out certain forms so she could homeschool. Mrs. Egarta patiently explained that she had already given school notice, and was not required to fill out any forms. The counselor insisted that she had to in order to homeschool. Mrs. Egarta explained that she had read Missouri’s law and it said nothing about mandatory forms. The counselor said, “The laws have changed.”

Giving the counselor the benefit of the doubt, Mrs. Egarta brought the form home to read it. It was called the “Homeschool Notification Form.” Near the bottom, it said that it would be sent to the prosecuting attorney’s office. Mrs. Egarta double checked and confirmed that the laws had not changed, and no such forms were required. She explained this to a school official who became very hostile, frightening her young daughter who was with her, and said she had to sign the papers or she would report her. When Mrs. Egarta was firm, the official said, “You just can’t do that, and you are not going to get away with it!”

Although Mrs. Egarta did not know it at the time, the school had kept the children on the rolls, so when school began, the school’s official records began recording unexcused absences for all four children.

..... (ultimately) the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed misdemeanor information against Mr. and Mrs. Egarta.

Now in court and facing criminal charges, the family contacted Home School Legal Defense Association for help.

..... After numerous rounds of correspondence with (HSLDA attorney Scott) Woodruff, the assistant prosecuting attorney seemed to understand that something had gone awry and sensibly dismissed the prosecution. The family was delighted.

The attorney for the school system was not so forthcoming, however. He did not acknowledge that the school system had erred or offer any concrete steps to prevent such errors in the future.

This final incident, reported by HSLDA on November 7, "appears" to be not as threatening (but see the question that follows). Nonetheless it reveals dangerous prevailing attitudes, even among those whose job it is to "protect and serve" (bold is mine):

A dog warden showed up at the Jones (name changed to protect privacy) family home in Northern Ohio after receiving a tip from neighbor. She demanded entry into the family’s home, because she wanted to “see if their dog was healthy.”

Mrs. Jones, a homeschooling mother of 10, responded respectfully to this surprise intrusion by politely informing the dog warden that she had a Fourth Amendment right under the Constitution protecting her from warrantless searches and seizures. Mrs. Jones politely explained that her dog was healthy and that unless the dog warden had a search warrant, she would not allow her to come into the house or see the dog.

The dog warden became annoyed and threatened to call the police if Mrs. Jones did not allow her to see the dog. Mrs. Jones politely stood her ground, calmly stating that she would explain her right to the police officer if necessary. The dog warden spitefully called the police.

..... When one of the children opened the door, the mother quickly closed it to protect her children from this unnecessarily ugly intrusion. “You almost shut the door on his fingers,” stated the dog warden, and turning to the officer she stated, “She homeschools, too.” The officer began to criticize the mother for homeschooling, stating that she was being a poor example to her children, questioning the accuracy of her teaching, and asserting that the children had to swallow whatever she told them.

Unanswered question: If this incident is really about the pet, why does the dog warden blurt out that the kids are homeschooled?

One must also assume that these rights-trampling efforts are not of concern to the ACLU, even though the first incident directly involves Fourth Amendment rights, a supposed specialty of theirs.

Of course, as you can see from this Google News search on Home School Legal Defense Association (not in quotes), none of this rights trampling has been worthy of coverage by traditional local or national media outlets (HSLDA President Michael Smith did have an op-ed on an unrelated matter published in the Washington Times on November 8).

If incidents such as these received the attention they deserve, perhaps the country's cadre of social workers would work on cleaning up, or cleaning out, their bad apples.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters


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Another example of the

November 26, 2008 - 13:30 ET by MrSnuggles

Another example of the intolerant, fascist left.

The media will not report

November 26, 2008 - 17:57 ET by kg

The media will not report this because they want to ensure that our children are indoctrinated into their agenda and values.

 

"Forget change, I want improvement!"

it's about the money and power

November 26, 2008 - 13:50 ET by wizardjr

It has nothing to do with the kids, per se. That school person who went ballistic because the school had been ripping off the taxpayers is a prime example. These other nutballs are all about power over you and your kids.

I am so-o-o-o tired out with fascist bastards from the government. We had a prosecutor here in Minnesota that destroyed a family with a day-care business with false accusations derived by bullying children into giving false testimony (so they could go play). In the end it was all BS, but the family will never recover.

Just wait until 'That One'

November 26, 2008 - 14:27 ET by choselife3x

Just wait until 'That One' and his Injustice League begin to 'rule'. Homeschooling will be illegal and children will be seized. Parents aren't qualified to properly 'socialise' their children. Has a whole new meaning now, doesn't it?

In order to be pro-choice, one must first be born. Ah, the irony.

Browser burp. *delete*

November 26, 2008 - 14:31 ET by choselife3x

Browser burp. *delete*

Kids can't join the Young

November 26, 2008 - 14:27 ET by Carl Kolchak

Kids can't join the Young Pioneers if they are homeschooled.  The State needs kids to join the Young Pioneers movement, so they can spy on their parents and report any behavior that the State doesn't like.  That way the Thought Police can come and apprehend anyone the State doesn't like.

From the link below about the Young Pioneers in East Germany.

"Both the Young Pioneers and Freen German Youth were used by authorities to attack religious beliefs. These organizations sought to divide children and parents, especially on religious belief. Their sought to convince children that religion was unnecessary in their lives. The Young Pioneers and Free German Youth used some of the same tactics that the Hitler Youth had used. Meetings were scheduled so they overlapped with the Catholic ceremonies and gatherings. It became harder and harder for families to attend the church ceremonies as they often overlapped with youth meetings. The Communist anti-religious campaign intensified in the 1950s. The president of Young Pioneers said, "There is no doubt that they, the Church dignitaries, thus fight against the national interest of the people and push them in the direction of new wars". [Seth, p. 156.] "

 

http://histclo.com/youth/youth/org/pio/pioneerg.htm

 

Then in East Germany you had a "1984" type of environment, in which the Stasi was watching everyone and it was estimated that there was 1 Stasi informer for every 7 citizens.

http://worldpress.org/Europe/1199.cfm

And then if you tried to escape the State would shoot and kill people.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/germany/03/22/germany.krenz/

 "The Chancellor-the late chancellor-was only part correct.  He was obsolete.  But so was the State, the entity he worshiped. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete.  A case to be filed under 'M' for Mankind in the 'Twilight Zone'."  Rod Serling

 

NIght Stalker, good stuff as always

November 26, 2008 - 19:26 ET by exLib

I work at a College in Boston, Ma and it's scary.

After Obama won I thought everyone would be all ecstatic and fired up and sad no more because the "messiah" won.

However, the enthusiams was tempered and there was a black cloud on the election day victory because the "gay marriage" ban passed in California.  It was like people were in morning, shocked disbelief.

Within the last year I got into a heated debate on a Sports message board over some relatively unimportant basketball player outed himself in a book.  I was told that it was a "fact" that  homosexuality was OK and that I was "Totally Wrong" about the biblical views.

Suffice it to say after the previous incident I have concluded that in some ways, the brainwashing is complete.  It's not the MSM bias we need to really worry about, it's the schools indoctrinating kids.

The stuff you referenced is EXACTLY what I have seen happening over the last 10 years or so in the schools.  Separate the kids from the parents and change their beliefs.  That is the ONLY way that leftist ideology can be given to kids whose parents would teach them the truth about conservative thought. 

Khmer Rouge

November 26, 2008 - 23:12 ET by Carl Kolchak

Happy Thanksgiving Exlib. We have so much to be thankful for here in the United States, and the fact we live in a country where we are free to give thanks to God.

It appears that part of the requirements to be in the Khmer Rouge were to inform on family members or others. I had heard a missionary from Cambodia talking about how teenagers in the Khmer Rouge had been brainwashed into thinking their parents were horrible rotten people, and instances where the teenagers ended up executing their own parents.  Here is a link in regards to a questionare for the Khmer Rouge.  From the link below.

 

"Informing on ones family and friends was required behavior in the Khmer Rouge movement."

 

http://www.yale.edu/cgp/questionnaire.html

 

"The Chancellor-the late chancellor-was only part correct.  He was obsolete.  But so was the State, the entity he worshiped. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete.  A case to be filed under 'M' for Mankind in the 'Twilight Zone'."  Rod Serling

"perhaps the country's

November 26, 2008 - 14:51 ET by NL207

"perhaps the country's cadre of social workers would work on cleaning up, or cleaning out, their bad apples"

In a pig's eye they will!  These "social workers" are just the advance guard for the jack-booted stormtroopers of the new order.  It is not they who need redress, it is these unruly and ungrateful citizens who do not appreciate the benificence of the great nanny state.

I have had more than my share of experience with these statist vermin.  They observe only two rules:  (1)  The social workers are never wrong.  (2)  If a social worker is ever wrong refer back to rule 1.

This is not an accident and

November 27, 2008 - 00:40 ET by nofate

This is not an accident and I have my doubts that these people are just "bad apples".  Note the LAT lack of coverage of the LA public school workers sex scandal, part III (part I and part II also)- ongoing. 

Then there is the overt attempt by school psychologists, teachers, and administrators to browbeat parents and pupils into submission to liberal ideology: 

The Drumbeat-  As each school is renamed and the name of a Founder or other great person from our history is removed from its entrance way, we lose a bit of that memory. As our great authors and works of Western culture are replaced with those in line with the message of the drumbeat, we rapidly lose our cultural memory. As each school textbook is rewritten to reflect the new ideas of family and cultural heritage, our children are lost to the forces of the drumbeat as they learn to view America and traditional Western culture as oppressive and imperialistic. And it doesn't take long for there to be only a shell left, the substance of our culture sucked out and destroyed by the cultural Marxists.

If you believe that all this is a paranoid overreaction, you have plenty of company. Those of us who can still see the water and hear the drumbeat are subject to attempts to make us sound evil and foolish. To believe in traditional Western cultural values, American Exceptionalism, God, and moral truth is to be branded as old fashioned and foolish, even by the best assessments of those who have bought into the cultural Marxist's message. And by the worst of them, we are branded as stupid and evil, and in need of being destroyed.

Cultural Marxism- 

Additional intellectual firepower was required: a theory to pathologize what was to be destroyed. In 1950, the Frankfurt School augmented Cultural Marxism with Theodor Adorno's idea of the ‘authoritarian personality.'  This concept is premised on the notion that Christianity, capitalism, and the traditional family create a character prone to racism and fascism.  Thus, anyone who upholds America's traditional moral values and institutions is both racist and fascist.  Children raised by traditional values parents, we are told to believe, will almost certainly become racists and fascists.  By extension, if fascism and racism are endemic to America's traditional culture, then everyone raised in the traditions of God, family, patriotism, gun ownership, or free markets is in need of psychological help.

The pernicious influence of Adorno's ‘authoritarian personality' idea can be clearly seen in some of the research that gets public money.

"In Aug., 2003, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the results of their $1.2 million tax-payer funded study.  It stated, essentially, that traditionalists are mentally disturbed.  Scholars from the Universities of Maryland, California at Berkeley, and Stanford had determined that social conservatives...suffer from ‘mental rigidity,' ‘dogmatism,' and ‘uncertainty avoidance,' together with associated indicators for mental illness." http://www.edwatch.org/  ‘Social and Emotional Learning" Jan. 26, 2005)  

The Orwellian cast of the pathologies named shows how far Gramsci's long march has led us.  

A corresponding and diabolically crafted idea is political correctness.  The strong suggestion here is that in order for one not to be thought of as racist or fascist, then one must not only be nonjudgmental but must also embrace the ‘new' moral absolutes: diversity, choice, sensitivity, sexual orientation, and tolerance.  Political correctness is a Machiavellian psychological ‘command and control' device.  Its purpose is the imposition of uniformity in thought, speech, and behavior.

Critical theory is yet another psychological ‘command and control' device.  As stated by Daniel J. Flynn,

"Critical Theory, as its name implies, criticizes.  What deconstruction does to literature, Critical Theory does to societies."  (Intellectual Morons, p 15-16)

Critical Theory is an ongoing and brutal assault via vicious criticism relentlessly leveled against Christians, Christmas, the Boy Scouts, Ten Commandments, our military, and all other aspects of traditional American culture and society. (I'm sure that includes home schoolers since they are out of the control of the cultural marxists- my comment)

 More evidence that this is not some authority gone awry situation but part of an overall strategy, from a comment in an earlier NB post:

Also, remember the plan by the APA to help indoctrinate our children into the church of Anthropogenic Global Warming?  It was covered by Noel here:  Advancing Hysteria by Editing Skeptical Views of Global Warming.  Check out the "Social and Emotional Learning" article linked above.  That bit about social conservatives being crazy is only the tip of the iceberg.  "Social and Emotional Learning" appears to be a whole governmental/psycological association program to get hold of young minds early, as in The Barack of Obama's nursery school program needing gazillions of federal dollars.  More excerpts that preceeded the above description of insane social conservatives (note: the National Association of School Psychologists is heavily involved, surprise!):

The commission advocates examining parents and homes for anything that might point to a “physical or mental condition [with] a high probability of resulting in a [child’s] developmental delay” ­ something way beyond the present capabilities of the mental health profession ­ beginning with a mandatory Nurse-Family Partnership component.

Why the extraordinary emphasis on parents? The Commission and, indeed, most of the mental health community believe that mental “disorders” of parents occurring before children reach the age of six “can interfere with critical emotional, cognitive, and physical development, and portend a lifetime of problems in school, at home, and in the community.” Therefore, “treating the parents’ mental health problems also benefits the child.”

“Treating parents” means psychotherapy and drugs, and the initiative calls for a mandate to provide “social and emotional check-ups” in all primary healthcare facilities. This means parents are supposed to be surreptitiously assessed for mental “illness” every time they walk into their physician’s office...

 

 

"The future is not set.  There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

michaelyon-online.com

Two...

November 26, 2008 - 16:02 ET by The Distributist

Two fruits in one - Lesbians and school unions. The dog catcher act is a bit of a creative curveball, I must admit.

Woodrow Wilson, at whose feet blame for the education debacle rests, once commented that it was necessary for the government to remove children from the influence of their parents as early as possible. He put Dewey in charge of creating a public education system that gave us kindegarten to, in his words, shape the apple before it drops from the tree.

Life for homeschoolers will not improve in Spamelot. In time, Obama will be compared more to Wilson than FDR - a friendly-faced, fascistic egghead with no friends. (Not by the press of course, but rather by those who actually care about our nation.)

"I would rather a boy learnt in the roughest school the courage
to hit a politician, or gained in the hardest school the learning to
refute him - rather than that he should gain in the most enlightened
school the cunning to copy him." -GK Chesterton

The Soviet State

November 26, 2008 - 16:31 ET by Copperhead Ridge

I had to conduct a training session for folks in a rural Kentucky county today. As I walked into a nice shiny government building I noticed a sign that said: CHILDREN NEED A USEFUL ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY.

It sort of made my blood run cold.

I realize this is sort of off-topic, and I don't mean to hijack the thread. Can you imagine thinking that children need a useful role in the community? Isn't this a lurch toward BHO's civilian whatever force?

Useful to the community? My parents made me useful to the community by raising me to be a CITIZEN. They also made me useful around the house by assigning me chores like mowing grass, raking leaves, hoeing the garden, etc.

Liberty is dying folks. I know lefties read this and think that I'm another paranoid member of the right, but I'm not. Yes, I am conservative.

CR... Well said! Time To

November 26, 2008 - 19:33 ET by Clear thinker

CR...

Well said!

Time To Man-Up America

 

 Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/  

CR

November 26, 2008 - 21:57 ET by MichiganVet

If it were a conservative sign/slogan and some left-lib-a-crat had your reaction, they'd start hounding everyone in the building as to why is this sign here?  They'd tell everyone in earshot that this upset them and it should come down.  People would march, carry signs, make a stink.

Perhaps we (formerly) meek and mild conservatives take the same tact?  Ask the tough questions, get the local paper to run a photo and question the sign's meaning.

We need to be more proactive and give the left the same push-back they have been using for years.

CR, this is *not* a criticism of your actions or post - I hope you do not interpret as such - but after this election, I have promised myself to stop thinking like a victim and I am fighting back. 

I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy

Public Education brought us Obama

November 26, 2008 - 18:06 ET by joe in big d

GREAT blog... THANK YOU for keeping us informed!

Lincoln said it all:  The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow.

Now, 52% of the country elected a Socialist as their leader -- but they haven't a clue WHY that is such a bad thing.

Though I whole-heartedly

November 26, 2008 - 18:54 ET by BuffNBone

Though I whole-heartedly support home schoolers and home schooling, I often say if we don't get public education right, "We're all in trouble."  That's why when the situation is right, I take the opportunity to do some substitute teaching.

Most people agree that they want values taught.  The problem is the values they want taught are their own and not the other persons.  And that's where the disagreements come in.

We would all be better served if the educational institutions (Pre-K to Post-doc) taught their charges "How" to think instead of "What" to think.  Along these lines, I encourage all to read books by Edward de Bono.  Specifically his "Thinking Course, but there are many others to choose from.  His concepts are simple yet powerful. Arming students with the ability to ask better questions of others as well as themselves could go a long way to help future generations right our ship of state.

"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"

Schools Mine For Abusers

November 26, 2008 - 19:24 ET by deerjerkydave

At the local elementary school where I lived a few years ago, a social worker was interviewing children one by one and asking them if their parents spanked them. My friend's 5 year old, knowing how to give answers that the adult wants to hear, said yes and social services were immediately investigating my friend and his wife and threatened to take their kids. They swore that they never hit their kids. As proof, there were no marks or bruises on the child at all.

Seems wrong to me that government schools are mining for ways to remove children from homes. Shouldn't parents be notified of these interrogations and given the choice to opt out? If sending kids to public school means the surrendor of parental rights, then where do I sign up for home schooling or vouchers?

DJD

November 26, 2008 - 19:34 ET by general company

This is why one must be proactive with their children. We have told our kids that if they were ever asked anything they felt uncomfortable about they were to refer them to us. We also asked our children often what was going on in school. We have also made it clear to our kids that we were a privet family that does not just tell anyone anything they want to know. This requires your child to compleatly trust you though, not always the case I am afraid. 

 

"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg

Good Points

November 26, 2008 - 19:51 ET by deerjerkydave

Good points GC.  I have young children about to enter the public school system, I'll have to groom them to know how to recognize BS when they see it. Mandatory government indoctrination/schooling seems wrong to me. Pro-choice people suddenly become anti-choice when it comes to education.

djdave... You know why

November 26, 2008 - 20:22 ET by Clear thinker

djdave...

You know why don't you?

Time To Man-Up America

 

 Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/  

Been...

November 26, 2008 - 20:17 ET by The Distributist

Wife and I have been raising our four kids for 27 years now. We have gone to great lengths to avoid pubic schools, often driving environmentally hostile distances, and forgoing vacations and consumer-oriented Christmases to afford tuitions, all to keep them safe from the pinheads that are the primary reason our nation is reaching its nadir - the public schools.

"Modern man is staggering and losing his balance because he is being pelted with little pieces of alleged fact which are native to the newspapers; and, if they turn out not to be facts, that is still more native to newspapers." -GKC

We've taken the opposite

November 26, 2008 - 21:27 ET by HockeyKid

We've taken the opposite tack.  Our kid is a subversive in the public schools.  Talks about God and Jesus and responsibility and rights and common sense and all that stuff that scares the tar out of teachers these days. The thing that really destroys the opposition is the fact that our kid is so much more noticeably polite than others of the same age.  People always comment on it when we're at restaurants, etc.  That one factor means the Thought Police have a hard time making accusations stick.  What a great kid!

And, as is the case with most successful public school students, most of the real teaching takes place at home anyway.  Oh, the stories I could tell of idiot teachers.  Would you believe we even met a 7th grade teacher who had never heard of Aesop's Fables?  Sure, I knew you would.

"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me

Subversives in public schools

November 27, 2008 - 10:53 ET by moderncommentaries83

Go, hockeykid!  My husband and I are bound and determined not to send our son to public schools.  If I have to scrub toilets 3rd shift, I am paying for him to go to my parish's K-8 school.  PERIOD.   Just out of curiousity - does your child see any repercussions for his actions?

Liberals - both gay and straight - beget significantly fewer children than conservatives.  Since it's highly likely a child that grows up in a particular household will carry on those same values in adulthood, sheer demographics mean conservative values are more likely to carry into the future.  Which is why public schools and colleges/universities are the tools with which liberals desperately try to indoctrinate our youth.

Liberals don't believe in parental rights - remember, "It takes a village to raise a child" and all that blather.  Or how they treat women who choose to be stay-at-home mothers.  The only time the "rights" of a parent are respected is when a woman wants an abortion.  The attitude of our popular culture at large is that children are expendable commodities..."things" to be created (and destroyed) when it is convenient or fashionable or advantageous (see the "pregnant man" story).  So I sincerely believe liberals are wholly incapable of understanding people who 1) see children as a gift from God, 2) love them unconditionally, 3) take responsibility for raising them and 4) don't believe in being a "friend" and are parents  instead.  They cannot understand why or how people would take on the difficult, selfless, sacrifical task of being a parent because they themselves see the world from one perspective: that they are the center of the universe, and their morality trumps all.

 

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam