They Are Children, Not Entertainers

The Lower Merion School District didn’t do anything wrong when Harriton High School Assistant Principal Lindy Matsko confronted a student over alleged “inappropriate behavior in his home” and “cited as evidence a photograph from a webcam embedded in” the student’s “personal laptop issued by the school district” (1).  That is the reported decision of U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger after an internal investigation by the school district and an investigation conducted by the FBI.   The issue under consideration was whether or not the school district intentionally meant to spy on students in their home.  The answer to that question was “no.”  The school district only admitted that it made some “mistakes.”

Mistakes?

School district employees used the remote picture-taking ability of the webcams to snap over 400 pictures of one student in his home.  In some of them he was partially undressed.   School district employees snapped over 56,000 pictures from their 2,300 laptop computers supposedly for the purpose of locating lost laptop computers.  That’s just shy of 25 pictures per computer.  Jacqui Cheng, Senior Apply Editor writing at arstechnica.com, reported that

IT staff responsible for monitoring the student laptops seemingly viewed the whole thing as entertainment, with one admin telling another via e-mail that the photos were "like a little [Lower Merion School District] soap opera." Another responded with, "I know. I love it!"

Nice.

So, if they didn’t do anything wrong, why did the school district settle a lawsuit for $610,000?   The school district claims that it was protecting the financial interests of the tax-payers.  There were $1.2 million in legal fees for this case.  $185,000 went to the two students involved in the case, with one student reaping $175,000 and another receiving $10,000.   $425,000 went to lawyers for the plaintiffs legal expenses.  $1.2 million dollars is a lot of tax-payer money for “mistakes.” 

What concerns me the most about this case is the one issue that hasn’t been reported on or discussed.  I raised this in my original post.   In what world do school administrators believe that they have the right to reach into a private citizen’s home and discipline the citizen?  Assistant Principal Lindy Matsko “informed minor Plaintiff that the School District was of the belief that minor Plaintiff was engaged in improper behavior in his home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in minor Plaintiff’s personal laptop issued by the School District.”  School district personnel have no right to discipline students for their behavior in their homes!  Why would they even want to? It’s not as if school administrators lack for things to do.  If a judge somewhere decides that this is an acceptable action for government-run schools to take, don’t the administrators realize that a precedent will be set for the government to look into their homes, too? Where are our fourth amendment rights in this case?  Do school administrators believe that they are exempt from the US Constitution?

School districts have no business buying and distributing laptop computers to students.   There is no possibility of financial loss to taxpayers through lost or stolen computers when the responsibility for purchasing computers is left where it should be – with individual parents.  There is nothing so critical in the computer world that it will significantly harm a student’s education if they learn without the use of a laptop.  There is no evidence that the use of laptops is significantly improving education in America, or improving our test scores against those of students from other countries.  Without these laptops, there is no need to hire IT personnel to monitor district issued computers.   That removes the possibility of district personnel snooping for their personal entertainment into the private lives of students.  

My children are not and never will be a source of entertainment for school district employees.

(1)    http://media.nbcphiladelphia.com/documents/laptop_civil_action.pdf (Page 6, paragraph 23)

(2)    http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-17-laptop-spying_N.htm

(3)    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/10/school-settles-laptop-spying-case-to-protect- taxpayers.ars

(4)    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/10/school-settles-laptop-spying-case-to-protect-taxpayers.ars

Home Spun Comic #538

Those Who Can't Teach

The old adage states that “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; and those who can’t teach, teach gym.” I’d like to add a fourth line to that old saw. Those who can’t teach gym become school administrators. It occurred to me that if Darwin’s theory of evolution was true and that a species selectively breeds for the strongest and most desired traits, there would be no more stupid people left in the world. Yet, we regularly see that isn’t true, and we need to look no further than school administrators to see the most egregious examples of less than stellar critical thinking skills. One school administrator strip searched a thirteen-year-old girl on the suspicion of hiding ibuprofen in her underwear. An Eagle Scout was suspended for having a pocket knife in an emergency kit in his car. A Texas school district filed truancy charges against a mother for homeschooling her children in compliance with state law, while at the same time demanding private information from the family that went beyond the requirements of state law. These stories would be funny if they were not so serious.

Last February, I read a story that made me wonder whether or not prospective administrators are required to take EDU 522: The Constitution Doesn’t Apply To You.  Allegedly, a school administrator at Harriton High School used images captured on a school issued laptop computer web cam to initiate disciplinary action against a fifteen-year-old boy for improper behavior in his home. You read that correctly: improper behavior in his home. The school district has the ability to secretly capture screen shots at any time on a district issued computer without the knowledge of the user. The district also has the ability to capture images through the web cam imbedded in the computer without the knowledge of the user. If a young student leaves his or her school issued computer on and open while changing their clothes in the privacy of their bedroom, the school just might take their picture!

Who in their right mind thought that this was a good idea? In what world do school administrators believe that they have the right to reach into a private citizen’s home and discipline the citizen? Why would they even want to? It’s not as if school administrators lack for things to do. And if the district wins the lawsuit brought against them by the student’s family, and some judge somewhere decides that this is an acceptable action for government-run schools to take, don’t the administrators realize that a precedent will be set for the government to look into their homes, too? I have to wonder if some school officials have somehow mentally disengaged themselves from participating in US citizenship and the US Constitution to become some sort of world citizen-at-large.

I’d like to say that this case is a slam-dunk for the plaintiff, but I don’t have that much faith in the judicial system. I would have thought that the strip-search case was a certain 9-0 decision by the SCOTUS, but apparently Justice Thomas believes that "judges are not qualified to second-guess the best manner for maintaining quiet and order in the school environment.” His words. That’s frightening.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the follow-up to this school computer case.   

Home Spun Comic #396

You can read more Home Spun Comics every Tuesday and Thursday here at The Homeschool Apologist.

Why do I Homeschool?

Why Do I Homeschool?

By Deana

There are many reasons why some parents choose homeschooling instead of enrolling their children in public or private school. I’m not professing homeschool as the only right choice for all children’s education. And, my reasons for homeschooling, although they are many, are probably not the same reasons as the next homeschooling family’s.  I recognize that for most families, traditional schooling works best for them, for many different reasons as well.

The majority of my friends and family do not homeschool, and I do not judge them negatively for that choice in any way. In fact, I hope my daughter can always play alongside their children, and that I can continue to enjoy the good relationships that I have with my friends. I’d also like to add that my husband and I both attended public school from Kindergarten through high school, and we both were very successful academically, and really have just a few reasonable complaints about our experiences there.

Since we made the decision to homeschool one year ago, many people have asked me, “Why do you homeschool?” Well, honestly, my reasons vary from day to day, but my husband and I know without a doubt that it’s the right choice for our family. When I first began this blog, I wrote these reasons down as I tried to define my homeschooling philosophy. So, here they are, just some of the reasons why we’ve come to believe that homeschooling is for us (in no particular order):

Reason #1: Pace

Reason #2: It’s Personal

Reason #3: Socialization

Reason #4: Flexibility

Reason #5: Natural Learning Opportunities

Reason #6: I Know.

Reason #7: Closeness with my Kid(s)

Reason #8: Love!

Reason #9: Great Results

Reason #10: Time is Precious

Reason #11: Good Care, Whatever the Need

Reason #12: Ability to Travel

Reason #13: Budget and Personnel Control

Reason #14: I Can

Reason #15: It’s Cheap

Reason #16: Appointment Opportunity

Reason #17: No Homework

Reason #18: Just Joining the Crowd

Reason # 19: Identity

Reason #20: I’ll be Weird

Reason #21: The Sheltered Life

Reason #22: It's Comfortable

You can read more of Deanna’s writing at http://www.thefrugalhomeschoolingmom.com/

If All the Other Kids Go to College...

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Cristina, the newest regular contributor here at The Homeschool Apologist.   Cristina joins us from her blog, Home Spun Juggling, where “she offers a view of her life in comic strips,” and invites readers “to share her love of learning, laughter and circus arts.”  Yes, circus arts!     Besides homeschooling her children and drawing comic strips, Cristina is an avid juggler.   The subtitle to Cristina’s blog says a lot about her work.   “Life is not black and white.  I only draw it that way.  This is the story of our homeschooling life in comic strips and my thoughts, which often wax philosophical.”   Cristina’s comic strips have heart and soul and humor, and we are blessed to be able to share them here at THA.

In a recent blog post, Cristina wrote about a new challenge facing her family.  It is a challenge that Linda has faced three times over, I will be facing for the first time this year, and many of you have or will experience in the near future.  Read along as she explores what to do

If All the Other Kids Go to College...

September was busy. And crazy. After all the busy we encountered last year, I was really hoping for something better. This is probably unrealistic of me. As they age, my children have gotten more busy, not less. This September saw a new chapter of growing pains: college.

For those of you with younger children, let me explain. Somewhere around 8th grade, the questions that swirl around your homeschooling begin to change. Instead of "what about socialization?" you hear "is she going to high school?" Once you say you are continuing homeschooling, the question becomes, "What about college?" We live in an age when college preparation can begin with the right daycare center, so I suppose we have been a bit more insulated from this issue than the average parent, but once the question started coming, it was relentless.

The problem was that Marina is highly intelligent and well read. She easily conversed with the adults she met. Everyone she spoke to was impressed by her ability to talk on various subjects. When I first heard the question, I was extremely laid back about the issue--She's only 14! What's the rush? I didn't start college until I was almost 19! She doesn't know what direction she wants to take yet. We wouldn't have the money for it anyway.--It soon became clear that this was only the beginning.

By the time she was 15, the high schoolers we knew had taken up the chant. Marina fielded various questions about whether she was going to college, which colleges she was considering, had she taken the SAT, and "what do you want to study?" I think that last question is what broke her. When you are multi-talented, it is hard to pick one area of focus. She started having moments of anxiety and depression that she hid very well from others, but not from me. Part of the reason I stopped reporting her at 16 was to allow her room to explore. She wasn't going to do this as long as I was filling out quarterlies and having my own little panic attacks every three months. It also didn't help that her two best friends had opted to go to high school. We were running out of homeschooled teens for her to connect with.

Long story short, when we were given the opportunity to attend a homeschooling information meeting at the local college, we took it. Which led to us going through the application process and placement tests. That led to her enrollment this September in an English 101 class. Which, in turn, has led to many tears this September as she worried about finding the class and as she tries to understand the professor's instructions, hyper-focuses on assignments, and worries about the teacher falling behind in her own schedule. Meanwhile, I am kicking myself for allowing us to get swept up in the college craziness. I'm not quite sure how we got here so fast.

Some lessons I've learned along the way...

• I really wish I had encouraged her to start with something she was more interested in, like Italian. Frankly, I should have insisted on this. The English teacher she has is known to be tough. Several students had dropped her class by the third week.
• I am glad we decided to start with only one class. We're in no rush here. She's only 17.
• It would have been better to have her face the placements with less fear. If she could have spent a year--even six months--reviewing algebra and practicing essay writing, I think she would have been much more relaxed for the testing situation.
• I don't regret skipping the SAT.
• The majority of her peers right now are kids right out of high school, so she really isn't the youngest person there.

Some lessons she is learning...

• She needs to learn to write faster for class activities.
• She likes that people she meets on campus don't automatically ask what grade she's in or what school does she go to.
• She isn't the only one to panic over assignments. Just today, the professor had to push a deadline back another week because students were anxious about completing it in time. (In their defense, they would only have had one day to finish this particular assignment.)
• Being a student with a part-time job means she needs to improve her time management.
• Saying no is easier when you blame college assignments.
• The professor's schedule is not written in stone. It's more like guidelines.

I know things will settle down eventually. I simply wish I had not allowed the wave of outsiders' opinions to push us here before we were ready. I want my kids to make decisions in a calm and well thought out way, not to please me or anyone else. Apparently, I'm still fighting that urge to please others!

You can read more of Cristina's writing at http://jugglingpaynes.blogspot.com/

Birds of a Homeschooling Feather

The e-mail appeared to be as innocent as any other from the Christian Homeschoolers Around Leavenworth Kansas (CHALK).  It was a reminder for their monthly meeting.  Then I noticed that sentence in the middle of the text.  It was the sentence that said, “You are not welcome here.”  That’s because CHALK “is a homeschool group that meets together once a month for mom's meetings” (emphasis mine).  In an email chain between the leader of the group and a prospective member, it was made clear that men are not welcome: neither husbands nor stay-at-home homeschooling dads.  

In another part of the email, I saw mention of their statement of faith.  There is a statement of faith that the group asks all members to sign.  It isn’t mandatory, but they make it clear that by joining the group you agree to the tenets of the statement.  The statement contains standard Christian concepts quoted directly from scripture, and many Christian groups require members to sign them.  I was once asked to sign a statement of Christian faith by a practicing lesbian who was also a homeschooling group administrator, a concept that I found both ironic and amusing.  No one has ever been able to explain to me how these faith statements fit with James5:12, "Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned," or Matthew 5:37, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”  Oddly, no one who ever required me to sign a statement of faith ever asked me whether or not I agreed.  It has always been a case of sign, or leave.

In the Today Show Online article As home-schooling moves to mainstream, stigma fades, a generally fair article about homeschooling, black homeschooler Angela Jenkins searched for other black homeschoolers with whom she could connect.   She “started DFWhomeschoolcafe, a website originally created to connect people of color to home-schooling resources and provide a place for them to share ideas with each other. Her site is one of various sites and support groups for people of color.” The article also listed websites such as the Black Homeschoolers Club, the National Black Home Educators, and Mommy Maestra, “a Latina home-schooling blog.” There are Yahoo! and Google groups, like the CHALK group, for Chinese-Americans, Latinos, Native American, and Muslim homeschoolers.

We read and hear a lot in the media about how politically polarized our nation has become.  I think our nation is segregated far beyond political divisions, and the evidence for that segregation has been staring me in the face for decades.  I grew up in a city that had a Polish community second only to Warsaw in size and population.  There were sections of town that were “Italian,” Czechoslovakian,” and “Black.”  Once in awhile we drove to “Chinatown.”  I am certain that at one time there was a need for birds of a feather to flock together as successive waves of immigration swept across the country.  People tend to be distrustful of change and look for support from a comfortable source: people like themselves.  At the same time, I suspect that the great melting pot doesn’t exist, and it doesn’t exist by choice.  We may be dumping beef and potatoes and carrots into the stew pot, but no matter how often we stir the beef is hanging out in one third of the pot, the potatoes are piled in the another third, and the carrots are bunched together in the last unclaimed section.   

I'm left with more questions than answers.  How can Christian homeschoolers spread the word of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross if they only associate with other Christian homeschoolers?  Is the "evil one" at work in a homeschooling group when they require a signed statement of faith and actively exclude people from participation, or are the members merely treating other people as they wish to be treated?  Why must homeschooling groups be segregated by gender?  Don’t fathers of homeschoolers have something to offer to the homeschooling conversation?   After all, the dialogue does concern their children.  Don’t fathers who stay at home and homeschool need dialogue with other homeschoolers concerning curriculum, lesson plans, resources, and field trips?  What don’t I understand about being Latino or Black or Chinese or female that makes mastering algebraic facts different than it is for male Caucasians?  Why are caucasians excluded from the category "people of color?"  "Caucasian" does not mean "white" any more than "Black" really means "black."  Just look at a cross-section of "people of color" and you'll see a wide variation on the theme of brown.  Frankly, I'm more of a reddish-pinkish hue than I am white, unless you're looking at my naked legs in the dead of winter. Then you might have a point.  Is it possible that homeschooling critics make a valid point about homeschooling when they raise issues concerning homogeny?   Where is the diversity in self-segregated homeschooling communities?  Or, was Thurgood Marshall wrong?  Is separate really equal?  Is separate preferred? Is the call for diversity a sham?