Posted on 05/18/2011 11:29:57 AM PDT by christianhomeschoolmommaof3
In her first address to West Virginia’s joint standing committee on education this week, incoming West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools Jorea Marple criticized homeschoolers. According to a West Virginia homeschooler who posted to an Internet group, Speaker pro tem and Delegate Ron Fragale told her that Mrs. Marple said “West Virginia homeschoolers need more oversight, better standards, better evidence of progress; homeschoolers have too much flexibility.”
Delegate Fragale told the homeschooler that “he’s not sure why Mrs. Marple is so negative about homeschooling. Perhaps there are some new board members who don’t have a good impression of it. However, the West Virginia Department of Education could create a new policy that might make homeschooling more difficult in the state.” He recommended that homeschoolers contact Mrs. Marple.
HSLDA Staff Attorney for West Virginia affairs Michael P. Donnelly noted that West Virginia homeschoolers do an outstanding job of educating children and that West Virginia has one of the nation’s more stringent homeschooling laws.
“Mrs. Marple’s comments reflect the outdated stereotypes typical of some narrow-minded government school bureaucrats,” Donnelly stated. “Mrs. Marple should get the facts before painting a bull’s-eye on West Virginia homeschoolers. If Mrs. Marple really cares about educational achievement for West Virginia students, she should study why homeschooling works so well and encourage it, not criticize it.”
“West Virginia already requires an annual notification and annual assessment from every family. Only a minority of the United States require this much interaction between homeschoolers and government officials,” he added.
Numerous studies affirm that homeschoolers outperform their public and private school counterparts on standardized tests of academic achievement. These studies show that increasing regulation on homeschoolers does not have any impact on academic performance. HSLDA is troubled by Mrs. Marples’ comments because they reflect an inappropriate eagerness to impose additional bureaucratic requirements on a population who are doing an excellent job of educating their children. Mrs. Marple should focus her attention on the 280,000-plus public school students who need her oversight, and leave West Virginia’s approximately 8,000 homeschoolers alone.
HSLDA is committed to defending the freedom of homeschoolers in West Virginia and calls on Mrs. Marple to retract her comments and to encourage homeschooling rather than seeking to impose additional and burdensome regulations on it. Mrs. Marples should remember that she is the new and 27th state superintendent of schools in a state where the motto is Montani Semper Liberi, or “Mountaineers Always Free.”
To contact Mrs. Marple:
By email: dvermill@access.k12.wv.us By Phone: 304-558-2681 extension 53304 By mail: Dr. Jorea Marple, state superintendent of schools 1900 Kanawha Blvd., E., Building 6, Room 358 Charleston, WV 25305
And not enough control by the ruling class, right?
ping for the list. This is in WV but we need all the calls and emails we can get! This is the woman’s FIRST speech as the State Superintendent and THIS is what she chose to address. Seems like we may be in an uphill battle with this woman.
Must be time for another Home Schooler to kick ass in the National Spelling Bee.
IOW, The home schooled students are making us look bad..............
Can’t brainwash ‘em if they aren’t forced into the classroom at gunpoint, don’tcha know.
J. Marple? Does she live in St Mary Meade?
She’s probably been the butt of jokes by readers and other intelligent people all her life, and it’s made her hate them.
The keyword for the FREE REPUBLIC HOMESCHOOLERS’ FORUM is frhf.
I homeschooled my son for two years in Pennsylvania. I had to notify the school district, write and have notarized in advance as to the curriculum and textbooks to be used, keep a portfolio of the work and have that portfolio reviewed by an outside source, and then take that porfolio to the district at the end of the year for further review.
Well, is that an admission now that the socialization argument against homeschoolers isn’t valid any more?
Oh, that's coming up shortly, too. We should have a thread following that.
It would be terrific irony if it were a WV homeschooler.....
Can’t be raising any free thinkers, now can we?
Flexibility is one of the many benefits of homeschooling. They want to regulate the benefits out of it so we all flock back to the public schools.
Her secretary got a not so nice piece of my mind. She tried to say this wasn’t specific and there was no legislation in the works. I responded that this was the women’s first speech and she chose to focus on homeschooling and that shows she has an agenda. I told her that we would be closely watching every move she made!
Yep, we’ve got too much freedom in America and there’s liberals like Zero who want to change that.
“homeschoolers have too much flexibility”
Like accomplishing the learning content offered in a public school’s 7 hour day in three hours?
Lol! Prepping my daughter now. Just kidding. We have no interest in competitions but it would be grand!!!!
When Mrs. WBill and I were thinking about homeschooling, some of the most vile negative comments that I got came from "educators", including some people that I considered friends. Not anymore.
Crabs in a pot, all of them.
We wound up moving to an excellent school district (yes, they still exist) so we'll get the benefits of a home education AND a good school. Best of both worlds, IMHO.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.