Home Education Truancy
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2024-2025
Occasionally, something so absurd occurs that one wonders what planet the idea originated on. Of all the home education issues I have witnessed, this one stands out as the most useless and illogical exercise in futility.
I received a call from a lawyer with a group called the Home School Legal Defence Association or HSLDA. They asked me to conduct an assessment of a student who had been found to be truant, that is, missing school. This would not have been so nuts if the student had not been home educating.
When I arrived with one of my facilitators at the home of the student, I was apprised of what had happened. The mother had been duped into doing a blended program she was not aware she had signed up for, and she had not been cooperating with the school through which she was registered. I explained to the mom that she had the right to register with any willing non-resident school board and did not have to be with her local school. Once apprised of this option, she chose to enrol with us, but we did not notice that she entered the current date rather than a date closer to the fall. As a consequence of this oversight, I found myself responsible for this lady’s predicament.
When the truancy officer called to establish a date for a hearing, I sent my facilitator. I assumed that since we were the family’s new school, my assurance that everything was going well would be enough; that was not how things went. Two more meetings were set up before I finally said, “Enough!” and showed up with a fairly large group of home educators and leaders to put an end to this continuing charade.
There were three truancy officers presiding and they had many questions regarding the student. When it came to the question of the assessment, I was pointed out as the keeper of those results. When asked to provide them to the officers, I asked why. This really surprised them, as they had likely never before been questioned since they were ostensibly the ones in control. Receiving a very weak answer, I asked them when the Truancy Board had become the Assessment Board. The meeting was quickly adjourned, and the process ended there and then. It turned out the officers were being paid per diem so the more sessions they held, the more money they made.
To the best of my knowledge, there has never been another case of a home educated student being charged with truancy. Lord knows what would have happened had I not challenged the Truancy Board with overstepping their jurisdiction.
Moral: It only takes one person to make a difference.
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