We just started HS'ing this year and I have filed all the necessary things (NOI to the Dept of NPE) and keep Attendance Records/Immunization Records, but I was talking to a friend yesterday and she told me I was required to inform my kids school that they were being HS'ed this year. Is this true? I really do not want anything to do with my sons school (bullying incidents all last year) but if I am required by law I want to make sure I do everything right. Is this true? If not, how does the school get notified?
Here is a summary from HSLDA http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/North_Carolina.pdf to sum it up: No However, I notified the schools when we pulled out because I did not want to deal with truency issues. Our schools were supportive, so I stopped by the school before it started back for the year and talked to someone in the office. You could easily just send a letter to the school letting them know. The kids do NOT have to go back to the school in order for you to notify them, and for that matter neither do you. HTH Sandy
...but in the same sense if we don't notify them we will have to deal with truancy issues? I think I might just send a letter to both schools like you suggested...thanks for the reply!
I called and told the school that our girls would not be back because we would be homeschooling them. The lady asked if I would send a short note saying that so they would have it in writting. I agreed to do it even though it was not required and we have not heard a thing from them since. That was in 2006.
I'm in NC and my daughter attended PS last year. I had to go by and fill out a small withdrawl form. It was very simple and quick. I'd rather deal with it now than having problems later on.
I would recommend that you not only give them a letter stating you are withdrawing your children to enroll them in a homeschool registered with the Division of Non-Public Education, but I would include a print out of the card you received back from DNPE or the DNPE web page that shows your school. I would drop it by and ask them for a receipt. Unfortunately, though North Carolina is an extremely homeschool-friendly state, a few individual schools have tried to say that a child was not withdrawn and informed Social Services (which doesn't even have jurisdiction in truancy). I really think this is an intimidation tactic they use to persuade a parent to bring a child back. I have mostly seen this in the case of a special needs child. Most school officials are better informed than this, but why take a chance? I probably have a gloomier expectation than most because we've served on the board of our state organization for many years, so we hear all the things that go wrong. Melanie Young
