An
Ohio public school superintendent is insisting that he will continue to
question homeschool parents after being advised by a legal group to
restrict his inquiries to within what the law allows.
After being requested by
Home School Legal Defense Association
(HSLDA) attorneys to limit his oversight of homeschooling students to
what the law permits, Licking Valley Local School District
Superintendent David Hile reportedly did not appreciate that his
authority was being checked.
“It is my responsibility under the law to
ensure that children in my district are receiving an adequate education
[and] I take that responsibility very seriously, whether those children
are in our schools or homeschooled,” Hile argued in a heated written
response to HSLDA. “I will continue to question parents as I see fit.”
Setting the record straight
The issue at hand was instigated by Hile’s
allegedly “excessive inquisitiveness” concerning the test score of a
homeschool student.
“The student had scored in the 30th percentile on a standardized test taken to fulfill end-of-year assessment requirement,”
HSLDA reports. “Hile felt the score was too low and asked to see the student’s subtest scores.”
Once the homeschool mother sought legal
assistance to resolve the issue before it escalated any further, HSLDA
Staff Attorney Mike Donnelly
informed Hile in a letter
that his demand for subtest scores went above and beyond what he was
allowed to ask for by law. The legal expert cited the Ohio
Administrative Code to make his case.
“Any child that has a composite score at
or above the 25th percentile shall be deemed to be performing at a level
of reasonable proficiency,” the code reads.
Ill-received advice
Even though the matter was quickly
resolved, Hile was noticeably upset by having his power questioned,
leading him to fire off what HSLDA attorneys considered a “
bristling reply” to the legal clarification with which they provided him.
“His response further demonstrated a lack
of understanding regarding how to interpret a nationally norm-referenced
assessment, as well as a disconcerting attitude with respect to who is
responsible for the education of the child,” the nonprofit legal group
argued. “Hile wrote that he considered a child who scored in the 30th
percentile on a standardized test ‘2–3 years below grade level (as 50th
percentile is on grade level on NNRA).’”
HSLDA went on to explain that someone in
Hile’s high position should be more knowledgeable about interpreting
student assessments.
“As a professional educator, Hile should
know percentile scores on a norm-referenced assessment that is
standardized nationally – as required by Ohio regulations – reflect how
many students performed at or above that level … not what grade level
the child is,” the Christian attorneys pointed out. “Perhaps Hile is
thinking of the state public tests, which are criterion-referenced,
rather than nationally normed standardized achievement tests, and which
simply show how a child scores compared to others the same test. A score
of the 30th percentile simply means that 30 percent of the students
scored below a particular result on that test.”
Donnelly contends that parents should not
have to deal with authoritative and unprofessional school officials such
as Hile, whose reaction to his concise and informative letter was
described as both hostile and unnecessary.
“Hile’s response was an over-the-top and
overbearing reaction to a simple point of clarification,” Donnelly
contended. “His attitude reflects an arrogance that implies
homeschoolers are not up to the task of educating their children. The
facts show that the reverse is true.”
