The family decided to homeschool in 2019, and as required by law, they notified officials of their intentions to educate the younger two at home full-time; the eldest daughter would continue to take a few classes at the local public school to augment her homeschooling curriculum.
Florida law gives homeschool students the right to participate in public school extracurricular activities, and districts may allow homeschoolers to take classes part-time, so Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) attorney Tj Schmidt relays it was a complete surprise to Cathryn, the mom, to learn she could be facing truancy charges for her daughter's unexcused absences.
"We suspect it was a clerical error, that when the clerk was entering the information that should have been for part-time, they entered it as full-time," Schmidt tells AFN.
Cathryn contacted HSLDA when she was told by school officials that she would have to resolve the situation herself.
"The administrator basically said, 'Well … it's not my problem. I can't do anything about it. You just have to reregister as a home education program,'" Schmidt paraphrases.
He wrote to the school to point out that they created the problem, so it was up to them to correct it, which they did within three days. But even though the daughter's homeschooling status has been restored, Cathryn has yet to receive a full explanation about how the mistake happened.
