Utterly Meaningless

Generally speaking, what are the options for the family to counter sue? This isn’t a case of a judgment call that went against them. It’s pure malfeasance or incompetence on the part of the state. There should be a way to hold them accountable.

I tried to document this story in the local papers, and several news services. Apparently the only place it appears is HSLDA. Not enough data, and no confirmation. Same for the Homeowners Ass’n story that follows it.

Mary

We’ve tried filing “false arrest” and “malicious prosecution” against school districts that have pulled this kind of nonsense in the past. Those cases turn out to be VERY hard to win. The best approach seems to be file ethics complaints against the prosecutor who goes forward with something like this. You don’t get money damages out of it, but you do put the fear of God (or at least of the Ethics Board) into the government attorneys.

“Nonetheless, certain school districts tend to demand more of homeschoolers than is actually required by law” says HSLDA.
And so does HSLDA as they proudly brandish the mother with “a teaching certificate, lesson plans and plenty of books” to impress the superintendent.
No favors done for the Illinois homeschooling parents who have no ‘teaching certificate and lesson plans or plenty of books’.
Teaching certificates aren’t necessary for IL homeschoolers or particularly functional in order for kids to learn, ay? (Any time one gets “left cold”, one might want to reconsider?)
Lesson plans?! I don’t use or need lesson plans and my kids are educated just fine. Some families do use them, some don’t. HSLDA’s proclamation regarding this family that is spread far and wide is for the ones who do?
Plenty of books? Some families can’t afford “plenty of books”. But they hit the limit at the library checking out books. Or maybe they don’t but their kids are still learning just fine.
Either way, the inference is that the ROE (and HSLDA) needs to be satisfied in the most ‘schoolish’ kind of way.

Did Klicka prepare the father for the judge denying continuance after Klicka “researched the school code”? Apparently not. One thing I’ve learned about a good lawyer is they prepare you for all possibilities. Instead of leaving these folks hanging: The judge …..”cut the father off when he was trying to ask for a continuance”

Why didn’t HSLDA contact homeschoolers or homeschooling groups in Illinois if they couldn’t scrape up a lawyer that could practice legally in Illinois? Since they didn’t, one really has to wonder what anguish and upheaval this family went through waiting for some relief from these supposed legal experts. (Just for the record, the regional superintendent doesn’t hang out at the local school districts. They have their very own buildings for their region. The mother would likely be heading to the regional office and not the school district for potential relief.)

Kudos??! Not from this homeschooler in Illinois.

“The best approach seems to be file ethics complaints against the prosecutor who goes forward with something like this. You don’t get money damages out of it, but you do put the fear of God (or at least of the Ethics Board) into the government attorneys. ”

Sounds good. How’d that work in Dennison’s ROE? Patrick J. Herrmann was the Bureau County State’s Attny. at the time. Did HSLDA put the ‘fear of God’ in Mr. Herrmann, for instance? I imagine that IL homeschoolers would love to see the documentation on that one (ethics complaint). That was a real stinker.