Two homeschooling families sue ELANCO School District over prosecution threats
Two couples sued Eastern Lancaster County School District’s (ELANCO) superintendent and three of its employees last week to protect the families’ ability to continue homeschooling their children, as roughly 340 district families do.
As The Independence reported last week, the district’s administration, independent of any action by the school board, sent staffers to visit the homeschooling households to seek physical copies of the parents’ high school diplomas. There is no statutory requirement that parents or guardians teaching kids at home provide such documents to public school officials; the Pennsylvania School Code permits the guardians to attest to their high school completion or equivalency with a notarized affidavit or unsworn declaration. Last Monday, before the litigation was announced the following day, dozens of area residents attended a school board meeting to voice displeasure at the ELANCO’s actions.
Lawyers for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) filed a complaint in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas alleging that ELANCO threatened the families of Michael and Caitlynn Brennan as well as Joseph and Joyelle Stoltzfus. The petition states the district raised the possibility the couples could be criminally prosecuted for enabling truancy if they did not furnish district officials with the requested documentation. Superintendent Michael Snopkowski, Assistant Superintendent Nadine Larkin, administrative assistant Stacey Swavely, and social worker Christine Ansari are named as defendants.
The plaintiffs cite two legal precedents — Barth v. School District of Philadelphia and Telly v. Pennridge School District Board of School Directors — to argue school districts can’t exercise powers not granted by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly. Hence, the families’ attorneys say, ELANCO cannot impose requirements on families who educate their kids at home unless the state legislature spelled out those very requirements. HSLDA attorneys also believe the district has violated the parents’ rights against unreasonable searches and seizures as recognized by the Fourth Amendment.
“These families followed the statute exactly as written,” HSLDA President Jim Mason said in a statement. “The school district must do the same. Pennsylvania’s homeschool law is clear and has not changed. But instead of following the law, ELANCO officials invented their own process and threatened them with prosecution. That is unlawful and must be stopped.”
Plaintiffs are asking the local court to stop the district from visiting homes to obtain diplomas and compel school officials to follow a strict dispute resolution process to resolve any concerns about parents’ teaching qualifications. Snopkowski did not return an email seeking comment.
Bradley Vasoli is the senior editor of The Independence.
