A visit from the homeschool inspector

My homeschooling friend Carol had unexpected visitor Friday afternoon: a woman introducing herself as a Round Rock School District employee, demanding that Carol show her--right then--the curriculum she uses with her two children. It would be alarming enough to have a stranger knock on your door and ask you to explain yourself at once, but the request was also out of bounds. Texas home schools are legally considered private schools, and public schools have no authority or jurisdiction over them per Leeper v. Arlington. In other words, Texas school districts have no more legal authority to review a Texas homeschooler's curriculum than they have to march down to, say, the local Waldorf school and demand to see their coursework.

Carol had been up all night caring for and cleaning up after her sick daughter so she was not in the best state to receive visitors or debate Leeper, as you might imagine. The woman didn't offer a card and Carol doesn't recall her name, she was so taken aback and worried that the woman would wake her daughter, who was asleep at last. The visitor, Carol said, was "quite aggressive about seeing my curriculum even after I told her she couldn't ask me that," telling Carol that she did have the right to ask to see her materials.

"She said, 'you could make me submit a written request,'" followed by what Carol described as a long pause that felt threatening.

My friend felt coerced into bringing her materials to the front door so a stranger could pass judgment on her. She was exhausted, her son was scared the woman was going to take him out of the house, and Carol "really just wanted her to go away." The visitor did, after Carol showed her the school books they use.

As you might imagine, this is not the end of it. Carol took it to the hive mind (which one should never poke with a stick) and people have been brainstorming all weekend to get Carol's many questions answered. I plan to call the district tomorrow to see what I can learn.* I have no quarrel with truant officers doing their job, but there's a lot to be said for professionalism. My guess is this is a new employee or someone in a new position who isn't quite clear on the law. I live in the same district as Carol--a block from an elementary school--and we've never had any static, even when my little homeschoolers and I march into the school-foyer polling place on election days.

Still, these kinds of incidents happen from time to time, and we can learn from it. Know your rights. If you homeschool in Texas, a good guide to handling this sort of visitor is here, and the scoop on school-district non-authority over your curriculum is here. The bottom line is, tell them politely to submit their request in writing. If you homeschool elsewhere and aren't clear on rights, look 'em up. A to Z is a good place to start.

Have any of you homeschooling readers had to deal with school or truancy officials yourselves? If you have any advice or insight, please share it.


*Update: Since Carol's lawyered up (Yes, Virgina, there are lawyers who homeschool and they tend to be proactive on the subject.), I don't feel the need to pester the school district. They're going to have enough to deal with. Updates TBA.