Record Review Meetings
Message from Rod Helder (NCDNPE) to NCHE
The April Home School Record Review Meetings invitation letters are now going out for the April meeting locations given in the last paragraph of our www.ncdnpe.org/hhh114xx.htm Record Review Meetings web page. As previously mentioned, we will continue to post the location sites and dates there each school year from now on from mid October through May.
...
Rod Helder
Director
NC Division of Non-Public Education
1309 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1309
Telephone: (919) 733-4276
www.ncdnpe.org
NCHE's Position (2007)
NCDNPE Page on Record Review Meetings: www.ncdnpe.org/hhh114xx.htm
Summary:
- These inspections are voluntarily being done with second year homeschools randomly selected by DNPE.
- If you're invited to one of these meetings, and you choose to participate, you're asked to bring your attendance and immunization records or your letter of exemption, and the results of the most recently administered national standardized achievement test your children have taken.
- While this is completely optional, DNPE would like the opportunity to see your curriculum materials and meet your children first hand, although neither will be in their official report.
- Remember, the law DOES require we keep records, and DNPE is the agency that's responsible for inspecting them -- whether they come to our home, see us at a local meeting, or inspect copies by mail.
- It's important that homeschoolers recognize that we're in danger of having more regulations added if there's a perception that we're doing a poor job or there's a lack of sufficient oversight.
- We at NCHE believe cooperating with DNPE on these inspections is the best way to protect our present freedoms. DNPE understands homeschools and has supported our mode of education from the beginning. On the other hand, DPI is not supportive and would be a disastrous substitute.
- So, if you're doing a good job teaching your children at home, as I know you are, you have nothing to fear from these inspections.
Video By Ernie Hodges, NCHE President (2007-2008)
Download the video (.mov) file (13.8 MB) •
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Video Transcript
Hi, I'm Ernie Hodges, president of North Carolinians for Home Education.
My wife, Iris, and I began homeschooling our three children over twenty years ago, even before there was a homeschooling law in North Carolina. And, we plan to homeschool our grandchildren as well.
Since 1984, NCHE's been here to protect your right to homeschool and provide you with the information and encouragement needed to successfully teach your children at home.
A number of you have called to ask about Department of Non Public Education -- or DNPE's Record Review Meetings.
Although new to most people, DNPE first held these meetings in the early 1990's. And they stopped them in 1993 because they lost an inspector and for budgetary constraints.
In order to understand the purpose and the significance of these meetings, it's helpful to know the history.
DNPE didn't exist until 1979 when the Christian schools convinced the legislature they should not be under the authority of the public school administration.
The new law established a new oversight entity with a director appointed by the Governor to oversee all private schools.
The first and current directors of DNPE were former private school administrators and they began visiting each private school annually, to inspect their records, and see first hand what was going on in the schools.
Then in 1982, some of the first modern homeschools began to appear in the state. Since they received no public funding, they claimed to be private, that is non-public schools.
Some public school administrators who opposed homeschooling requested the Attorney General, Rufus Edmiston, for a ruling on their legality. He rendered an opinion that a homeschool did not meet the requirements of the compulsory attendance law, resulting in a number of homeschoolers being arrested for truancy.
One couple, the Delcontes, were tried for truancy, and their case went all the way to the North Carolina Supreme Court, where the court ruled in their favor in May, 1985, and homeschooling was officially recognized as legal in North Carolina. Then DNPE began inspecting home schools for several years, allowing them to operate in a modified fashion.
In 1988 the legislature passed House Bill 837, officially defining a homeschool and placing homeschools under the oversight of DNPE.
This oversight is handled through record keeping and since we have to keep these records, the state has a right to inspect them from time to time.
These inspections are handled by DNPE in several different ways:
First, for several years DNPE met annually with every homeschool. As our numbers grew rapidly, that soon became impossible to continue.
So, in 1990 they then began Record Review Meetings with all homeschools in central locations.
After just a few years, they had to abandon "Record Review Meetings" and they started the voluntary "Inspection by Mail Program" because of staff limitations and the continued strong growth in the number of homeschools.
You know, here in North Carolina our homeschools enjoy a great degree of freedom from governmental interference. The law recognizes our right to homeschool - we don't have to apply for permission, we simply notify the state that we're taking on the responsibility for our children's education.
We're free to choose the subjects, the curricula, the schedule, and the location for teaching our children.
We at NCHE believe THIS is how it ought to be, and have fought for 23 years to gain and retain that freedom.
We need to bear in mind, though, that many professional educators still don't understand homeschooling and oppose us by continually try to convince our legislators that we need more regulation.
Just last year an attempt was made to quietly transfer DNPE from the Department of Administration to the Department of Public Instruction. But, we at NCHE learned of this ominous proposal and stopped it with your help.
While we averted that attempt at additional regulation, the legislature funded 2 new positions to enable DNPE to resume inspections of homeschools.
These inspections are voluntarily being done with second year homeschools randomly selected by DNPE.
If you're invited to one of these meetings, and you choose to participate, you're asked to bring your attendance and immunization records or your letter of exemption, and the results of the most recently administered national standardized achievement test your children have taken.
While this is completely optional, DNPE would like the opportunity to see your curriculum materials and meet your children first hand, although neither will be in their official report.
Remember, the law DOES require we keep records, and DNPE is the agency that's responsible for inspecting them -- whether they come to our home, see us at a local meeting, or inspect copies by mail.
It's important that homeschoolers recognize that we're in danger of having more regulations added if there's a perception that we're doing a poor job or there's a lack of sufficient oversight.
We at NCHE believe cooperating with DNPE on these inspections is the best way to protect our present freedoms. DNPE understands homeschools and has supported our mode of education from the beginning. On the other hand, DPI is not supportive and would be a disastrous substitute.
So, if you're doing a good job teaching your children at home, as I know you are, you have nothing to fear from these inspections. Nothing. Nothing at all.
I hope this historical review and the information about the Record Review Meetings will assist you in your decision about participation and will help equip you for a successful inspection meeting.
This is Ernie Hodges, president of NCHE. Please don't hesitate to call us if we can be of assistance. May God bless you and may God bless your homeschool.
