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July-August 2005 Selected Content
Perspectives - Judy Aaron
Interview with Deborah Stevenson
Homeschooling activist Judy Aron interviewed Deborah Stevenson, Executive Director of National Home Education Legal Defense (NHELD). Deborah is an attorney with a private practice in Southbury, Connecticut, handling cases in all aspects of education and appellate law. In addition to her legal practice and her duties as Ex. Director of NHELD, Attorney Stevenson is also a veteran homeschool mom and founder of Connecticut's Citizens to Uphold the Right to Educate (CT's CURE), which has operated continuously since 1989 as a grassroots citizens group dedicated to assisting parents who wish to maintain the freedom they currently have to educate their children in the best manner possible.
Attorney Stevenson is the mother of two daughters, Cassandra (16) and Samantha (20) who were homeschooled since birth until entering college at 10 and 11, respectively. Cassandra now holds a Bachelor of Science in Justice and Law Administration from Western Connecticut State University, and Samantha holds both a Bachelor of Science in Math and Astronomy from Western Connecticut, and also a Master's degree in Astrophysics from Wesleyan University, and is currently working at both the Boston Museum of Science, operating the planetarium show, and at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard as a data specialist for the director of the Chandra X-Ray Telescope.
Judy:
What is NHELD?
Deborah:
NHELD is a national organization, open to all, with regular and supporting memberships so families of all economic, religious, and ethnic backgrounds may join.
NHELD is an outgrowth of an earlier state organization known as Connecticut's Citizens to Uphold the Right to Educate, or CT's C.U.R.E. That organization was founded in 1989 by two moms, including myself, after we became convinced that the state Department of Education's "study" of our statute governing the duty of parents was to be substantially eroded by the institution of new "guidelines."
Because education is a power not delegated to the federal government but left to the states and to the people, CT's C.U.R.E. remained a statewide organization and did not get involved in the activities of the federal government. It was only when we saw that the federal government, wholly improperly, adopted laws on the national level that affected the rights of homeschoolers that we decided it was time to become involved nationally.
CT's C.U.R.E. became National Home Education Legal Defense in 2003 after issuing an analysis of the damaging effect federal legislation would have on the rights of parents and after receiving widespread support for our position. Whether or not the several new federal laws and the many more that are being considered in Washington by Congress are intended to benefit homeschoolers, the effect of any federal legislation is to empower the federal government to have control over parental instruction when constitutionally it has none. More importantly, once the federal government provides money or benefits to homeschoolers, the federal government then does have the constitutional authority to regulate how the money and benefits are appropriated, thus opening the door to more intrusion into the lives of homeschoolers by the federal government.
For these reasons, NHELD strongly opposes any federal legislation and seeks the support of other individuals and organizations across the country to oppose such governmental intrusion. NHELD believes that working together, we can defeat such intrusion.
NHELD has at its core a number of values such as the belief in sovereign parental instruction, or self-education, without any governmental interference; the viability of the United States Constitution, and in particular, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution from which follows the concept that education is a power not delegated to the federal government and is, therefore, reserved to the states and to the people; the belief that the federal government has no constitutional power whatsoever to regulate the instruction of children by their parents; the belief that parents should reject any federal funding or benefits so that the federal government cannot claim it has any authority to regulate parental instruction in any way; and many others, including the belief in empowering all individuals to protect their ability to educate their children in freedom.
Judy:
What is the biggest threat to parents nationwide?
Deborah:
NHELD believes the biggest threat to parents nationwide is the lack of accurate information. If citizens are not informed about the law and the facts affecting their rights under the law, they cannot effectively retain their freedom. NHELD urges everyone, no matter how tedious the task is, to obtain, read, and retain copies of the U.S. Constitution, their state Constitution, and all federal and state statutes, administrative regulations, state Department of Education and local Board of Education policies affecting the right of parents to instruct their own children. If parents are not informed as to what these laws and policies say exactly, then those in a position of power may easily and intentionally distort the language and intent of the law and coerce, intimidate, or otherwise fool parents into compliance with their own whims.
As for current issues threatening parents nationwide, there are many. First, is the enactment of federal legislation for the reasons cited earlier, but also because in any federal legislation the term "homeschool" eventually must be defined, either in the legislation itself or by the courts. Whatever that definition is, because it is a federal law, it may, and probably will, supercede any definition of "homeschool" that currently exists in each and every state, and, in turn, may and probably will, supercede the law regarding homeschooling in each and every state.
Another hugely important issue threatening parents nationwide, is the issue of loss of parental control over the lives of children through a combined effort of the psychological community and the public school system. This is an insidious effort that already is underway all across the country. The psychological community has begun an effort to undermine parental involvement with children by introducing a new word in their lexicon, the word "enmeshment." It seems that certain influential psychologists have deemed parents who become "enmeshed" with their children's lives to be neglectful of those children. "Enmeshment" is viewed as too much bonding with a child to the extent that the child is not able to thrive independently from his parents. The theory is that children must become independent from their parents and the sooner the better. To do anything less is neglectful. Parents already have been charged with neglect for being too enmeshed with their children. This may be the next step in claiming that parents who homeschool and, who necessarily are "enmeshed" with their children's education, are neglectful simply because they are homeschooling.
The public school community, on the other hand, thanks to newly enacted federal legislation, is implementing the mandate to establish mental health clinics in every public school and to have "psychological evaluations" completed of children routinely in the public school system. There is also an effort underway to have all pregnant women giving birth in hospitals undergo psychological evaluations to determine their ability to be a fit parent.
These are seemingly two separate facts, but in reality, they are two pieces to a very disturbing puzzle. That's because the "psychological evaluations" are based on the literature and theories developed in the psychological community. Therefore, one can conclude that the evaluations will include a determination as to whether the child in the school is too "enmeshed" with his parents and the parent in the hospital will become too "enmeshed" with her child.
Another looming threat is the likelihood that state and federal law will continue to evolve in such a way as to make it even more difficult for parents who resist the efforts to detach children from their parents and to leave the public schools to homeschool in freedom. The likelihood is that there will be more of an effort to "regulate" homeschooling and to prevent parents from withdrawing their children from the public schools in order to homeschool.
It is extremely important to educate parents and legislators as to the lack of scientific basis for the claim that "enmeshment" of a parent and child is inherently bad. It is also important to fight every effort to "regulate" homeschooling and to retain as much freedom from government intrusion as possible.
Judy:
What can parents do to protect or gain back their rights?
Again, the key is to become and to remain informed about what the existing law is and what legislators are proposing to change the law. Start talking about these issues in your local support groups. See how many parents actually do have copies of the entire statutes and regulations affecting homeschooling. Teach your children what the state and federal constitutions actually say. Inform everyone that the people have the power in this country and the people should exercise their power. Don't let any government official get away with not upholding the law. Elected officials can be fired at the ballot box through political activism of citizens joining together for a cause. That is how our system is designed to work. If we remain complacent and intimidated, we will be resigned to be compliant.
Judy:
How can statewide organizations work with NHELD?
Deborah:
NHELD seeks to establish a clearinghouse of accurate information about existing laws in each state. Statewide homeschool organizations may post their information on our website so that the citizens in each state who know the law in each state the best have a place in which to disseminate that law, accurately, nationwide.
Statewide homeschool organizations can also name one or more individuals who would like to become a contact person for NHELD in that state to receive bulletins about issues that affect us all. The contact person may also inform NHELD about an issue that is developing in their state that may be of interest to us all.
Most importantly, statewide homeschool organizations can actively recruit attorneys in their state who already know their state's homeschool law and who would like to be on NHELD's attorney list so that we can have a nationwide network of attorneys actively engaged in halting any federal legislation that would affect the rights of parents to homeschool. NHELD could also work with those attorneys to coordinate strategies for fighting regulation in their state. In unity, there is strength.
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