Q: What would happen if we dont turn in an evaluation and the school district puts our child on probation? ---- A: If a home educated child is put on probation by a Florida school district, the district is warning the parent that the district must receive a positive evaluation the next year or the childs home education program will be officially terminated. In other words, if you dont get a good evaluation in by next year, the district will assume you arent homeschooling the child properly and wont allow you to homeschool any more. (Well, they wont allow the child to be home educated any longer through the district; however, you could instead find a private school that offers a homeschool option and homeschool through that private school, making the child officially a private school student.) And the district might ask you to come in (maybe even more than once) to show them the childs portfolio during that probation year--if you dont come show them a portfolio, they might even decide to start a truancy investigation. The simplest way to avoid trouble is to turn in an evaluation for your child. If youve just gotten too busy and have missed your evaluation deadline (which is the anniversary of when you sent the district your letter of intent telling them of your plans to home educate your child), schedule an evaluation as soon as possible and send it in. If they get a positive evaluation--even one thats late--the school district will be happy. If you are facing some sort of crisis at home (such as dealing with the death of a loved one, or one of you has been hospitalized or dealing with a chronic illness, or your house burned down, etc.), send the district an email or a letter about it, tell them you are working on scheduling an evaluation (and follow through on it); many Florida school districts will grant an automatic extension of the evaluation deadline if you let them know of the need for an extension. Even if they dont grant an extension, youll be less likely to have anyone start an investigation if you let them know you are working on it (and then follow through). A portfolio review evaluation can usually be set up on fairly short notice as long as youve been keeping the required paperwork--often Ive been able to do an evaluation within 48 of being contacted by a parent. And if theres some huge problem, it can likely still be worked around. Contact an evaluator and ask about it, rather than putting it off. Even if the child hasnt shown progress in the past year, you might (for example), take a month and do some intensive work on academics to then be able to show progress, and then turn in a late evaluation. Hope this helps, Cheryl 561-798-3842 chavivah@yahoo
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 04:11:57 +0000
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