NHELD MEETS WITH EDUCATION COMMISSIONER BETTY STERNBERG
On March 21, 2006, NHELD Executive Director, Attorney Deborah Stevenson and Research Director, Judy Aron, met with Connecticut Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg to discuss issues affecting homeschoolers.
The meeting was suggested by State Senator Louis DeLuca in a telephone conversation he had with Attorney Stevenson as she was attempting to gain support for the withdrawal amendment to be proposed later in the session. That amendment would require public school districts to accept a letter of withdrawal from a parent and immediately consider the child withdrawn. In explaining the history of homeschooling and the need for the amendment, Senator DeLuca suggested approaching Commissioner Sternberg directly to seek a resolution.
Not too long after that conversation, Attorney Stevenson ran into Commissioner Sternberg as she waited to testify before the legislature’s Education Committee. At that time Attorney Stevenson requested a formal meeting with her, and the Commissioner agreed to it.
NHELD’s purpose in meeting with the Commissioner was to present her with:
1) information about the rights of parents to homeschool
2) how some school districts are coercing parents into signing Notice of Intent forms or into doing other things, by threatening to report them to DCF on truancy or educational neglect charges if they fail to comply
3) how these threats are illegal
4) and about why NHELD is seeking passage of the withdrawal amendment as a result.
NHELD’s purpose was to ask the Commissioner to resolve these problems by simply making two changes to the current C-14 Guidelines, otherwise known at the Suggested Procedures for Home Instruction adopted by the State Board of Education. Those changes would be to eliminate the word “must” and change it to “may” in the statement “Parents must file a Notice of Intent”, and to eliminate the statement that reads to the effect that “if parents fail to file a Notice of Intent, their children may be considered truant.” The changes simply make the C-14 comply with existing law.
The meeting with the Commissioner went fairly well. She appeared to be unfamiliar with certain aspects of the topic under discussion. NHELD presented her with handouts on
1) The History of Homeschooling in
2) The statutes that affect the rights of parents who homeschool
3) The Fact Sheet detailing families who have been reported to DCF in the past six months
4) NHELD’s proposed changes to the DCF Policy Manual making it more accurately reflect the law
5) The language that will be proposed in the legislature on the withdrawal amendment and
6) The current criminal statute outlining coercion (Conn. General Statute Section 53a-192)
NHELD approached these topics with politeness and courtesy but expressed genuine concern that the law as it currently exists should be upheld and that parents should not be coerced into complying with demands by the school districts upon threat of truancy and neglect. The Commissioner read some of the handouts as the conversation ensued and she promised to review them further after the meeting. The Commissioner seemed to more clearly understand the current situation and appeared to become more attentive when shown the statute on coercion.
While NHELD is concerned that Commissioner Sternberg indicated she would need to talk with Attorney General Blumenthal and ask his opinion on these issues, we remain optimistic given the fact that Blumenthal is politically wise and is aware of the political clout that homeschoolers currently have that he will not issue a “formal opinion”. We hope that he may only advise Commissioner Sternberg informally. Even if Attorney General Blumenthal does issue a “formal opinion”, NHELD remains confident that any such opinion could be legally and effectively dealt with when and if such an opinion is issued.
Commissioner Sternberg also said she would talk with the Education Department’s Chief of the Office of Legal Affairs, Mark Stapleton, as well as officials from the Department of Children and Families regarding the matters that we discussed. She remained open to issuing new Guidelines but assured NHELD that she would be in contact with us before she did so, if she did so. She also indicated she would be willing to work with us on these issues.
While it certainly is not the intention of NHELD to wake sleeping dogs, asking Commissioner Sternberg for assistance in resolving these issues was a logical next step, one that other legislators likely would ask us to take, or at least ask why we did not take, as we continue to seek assistance from the legislature in adopting the withdrawal amendment. If the Commissioner issues new Guidelines that eliminate the “must file” and reference to “truancy”, much confusion and argument will end. If she issues new Guidelines that compromise the rights of parents further, NHELD will continue the battle. If she does nothing, we are no worse off than we were before today. If she assists school districts in their efforts to coerce parents, we can, and will, make that fact very public, and make sure that the legislators are among the first to become aware of it.
If you have any further questions about this, please contact us. As always, we will continue to keep you posted as things progress.