Upon scrutinizing Mineral County’s policies a little further, some very alarming things came to light. We have been in touch with Mineral County’s Superintendent and have sent him a copy of the below points, that are in violation of NV state law. We’ll keep you updated on the district’s willingness to adhere to law!!
Dear Dr. Kirk
This is a recap of our phone conversation, and an itemized listing of the areas where Mineral County appears to be in non-compliance with the homeschooling laws of NV.
1. School Board no longer has any approval process
NRS 392.700 #3
The purpose of the notice of intent to homeschool is to inform the school district in which the child resides that the child is exempt from the requirement of compulsory attendance.
Dr. Rheault’s Memo to the districts makes this very clear;
Page 1. #1 Compulsory attendance of a child in a public school must be excused if the parent chooses to provide education to the child and files a notice of intent to homeschool with the Superintendent of Schools of the school district where the child lives. SB404 no longer requires satisfactory written evidence that the child is receiving equivalent instruction be presented to the board of trustees of a local school district. Rather, requirements for information contained in the notice are now established in law and need only by acknowledged by the Superintendent of Schools where the notice is filed.
SB404 Sec 7 (1b), Sec 5(7)
This practice needs to stop immediately
2. Listing the student’s names in the Agenda’s runs afoul of 392.700 #5(f)
f) An optional statement that the parent may sign which provides:
I expressly prohibit the release of any information contained in this document, including, without limitation, directory information as defined in 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(5)(A), without my prior written consent.(Memo page 2, #10)
And certainly of
392.700 #8 pertains to who and how the superintendent may release a homeschooler’s records or information. (Memo page 2, #9)
And worse yet
392.700 #10
A school or organization shall not discriminate in any manner against a child who is or was homeschooled. (page 3, #12)
So, unless the school board does the same thing with children who are exempt from public school to go to a private school, this “special” treatment of homeschoolers is discrimination.
3. We understand you may have a desire to help all educators, even homeschoolers. Clark County has taken the position that helping homeschoolers is neither in the law, nor in their scope of purposes. We’d agree. That’s best left to homeschool groups.
PLEASE give interested homeschoolers the contact information for Nevada Homeschool Network and Dr. Orval Nutting.
4. That brings us to, what IS the districts responsibility?
Again, back to Dr. Rheault’s memo
1)To enforce Compulsory Ed law
2)For the superintendent to accept the Notification of intent (page 1, #1)
3)To make only the Dept of Ed Notice of Intent Form available (page 1, #4)
4)To NOT require or request any additional information or assurances from the parent who files. (page 1 #4)
5)To accept that form or any other Notice of Intent form that meets the requirements of Sec 5 (5) (Today this is 392.700 #5)
6)To provide a “written acknowledgement which clearly indicates that the parent has provided the notification required by law and that the child is being homeschooled.” (page 2, #8)
7)To retain a physical or electronic copy of the acknowledgement for not less than 15 years (page 2, #8)
8)To provide information on their website, in a timely manner, regarding the High School Proficiency Exam and all college entrance exams such as the S.A.T, the A.C.T. and the PSAT/NMSQT, including registration dates and examination dates. (page 2, # 13)
9)To Conduct Child Find- identify children with special needs, as required by Federal law
That’s it. No approval process. Not of the form, not of the educational plan. Only a court of law can offer an opinion on the contents of the educational plan, according to NRS 392.700 #12
5. Website…Once Mineral County School District is clear on the homeschooling law, the website then needs to also offer the correct information. It appears that your district has 3 websites, so all should be correct.
Gohawthornes which is seems to be under construction
Mineralcountyschools.org No homeschooling info and bad links
Mineral.k12.nv which is linked to Nevada Dept of Ed, has illegal homeschooling information , bad links and no testing information for homeschoolers as required by law
From this website: in bold italics are the areas of concern
Home Schooling
Step 1 Review the following website http://www.doe.nv.gov/schools/homeschooling.html
Step 2 Contact the Superintendent (Required)
Step 3 Complete Home School Forms
Step 2 is inaccurate. The phrase “required to contact” the supt., is very misleading. Rather the parents submit the NOI to the super, and by law it need not even be in person. No other “contact” is necessary.
PAGE 1:
HOME SCHOOL CHOICE
As part of Nevada’s Education choice, there are very specific requirements for individuals who will opt for home schooling their children. Nevada law (NRS 392.070) provides for a waiver of the compulsory attendance laws and procedures for parents/guardians to follow in pursuing the waiver. For background, resources, and contacts, please see the information below.
Mineral County Requires the following steps for the process to be complete prior to beginning the home school process:
1.A parent and or guardian must complete the required forms to begin participation in home schooling.
2.The parent and or guardian making the request must meet with the principal of the school of enrollment prior to board approval.
3.The Mineral County School Board will review the request and take the appropriate action.
4.The parent and or guardian will be notified of the board’s decision in writing within 5 days of the board meeting.
5.The parent and or guardian, upon board approval may check the student out of school.
Every “requirement” listed above is an egregious misrepresentation of NRS 392.070 and 392.700 and does not conform with Nevada law.
None of the “background or resource” links provided (see below) to these documents work; rather, sends the reader to an error 404 page. If interested homeschoolers were able to read any of the documents listed they would see immediately that Mineral County’s “requirements” are not in compliance with the law.
2007-RHEAULT Letter for Homeschooling
2007 Homeschool Information – Table of Contents
2007 Homeschool Information
Notice of Intent to Homeschool
Notice if Intent of Homeschooled Child to Participate
If you need further information, contact: Orval K. Nutting, Ed.D.
Nevada Department of Education
1749 Moody St., Suite 40
Carson City, NV 89706-2543
ph: 775-687-9238
fax: 775-687-9113
email: onutting@doe.nv.gov
2007-DR. RHEAULT Letter for Homeschooling
6.Currently Nevada Homeschool Network has an Alert out on our statewide group and on our Nevada homeschool network website and has been in touch with Dr. Orval Nutting on this issue.
While Nevada Homeschool Network certainly holds no “authority” over Mineral County School District, we sincerely hope you will verify all of the above information and act accordingly. We will be doing our duty and looking out for all homeschoolers by following up on Mineral’s compliance.
Most sincerely,
Elissa Wahl
Nevada Homeschool Network
cc: Dr. Orval Nutting, NV Dept of Ed
Dr. Keith Rheault, Superintendent of Public Instruction, NV