Mahomet-Seymour revises policy to allow homeschool students to participate in extra-curricular activities

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com

The Mahomet-Seymour School Board on Monday approved a measure to allow students who are homeschooled to participate in extracurricular activities provided by the M-S School District. 

With Merle Giles and Jeremy Henrichs absent, a revision to policy 7:40 passed with three votes in favor coming from Meghan Hennesy, Ken Keefe and Colleen Schultz. Max McComb and Lori Larson abstained from voting.

Per the discussion Monday, the policy goes into effect immediately.

Prior to voting, McComb and Larson said that they were not opposed to homeschool students participating in extracurricular activities provided by the public district, but that they felt there were more questions that needed to be answered.

The policy, which Schultz wrote and provided to board members via email on Sept. 9, had been to the policy committee on Sept. 30 and had a reading at the Oct. 21 full board meeting. 

At the Oct. 21 board meeting, some board members and Superintendent Lindsey Hall asked Schultz to return with additional information so that they could make an informed decision.

The revised policy states: “A nonpublic school student is eligible to participate in: (1) interscholastic competition, provided his or her participation adheres to the regulations established by any association in which the School District maintains a membership, and (2) non-athletic extracurricular activities, provided the student attends a District school for at least one course during the regular school term, excluding lunch. A non-public student who participates in an extracurricular activity is subject to all policies, regulations, and rules that are applicable to other participants in the activity.”

Schultz started her presentation stating that school districts are funded by tax dollars, which should be used to better the community and to help the children in the community become productive citizens.

“I don’t think individual data matters as much because it’s what we want for our own community,” Schultz said. “What other communities do isn’t necessarily as important to us as what we want to do for our own community.”

She pointed out that because the district offers extracurricular activities, the district deems it as a valued opportunity for children.

“There are things there, intangible lessons, that can’t be learned in a classroom, that make our children in our community better citizens,” Schultz said.

Schultz sought out local administrators and parents who had gone through the process of implementing a policy where homeschool students could participate. 

In talking to principals, Schultz found that school districts ask for parents who want their homeschooled child to participate in extracurricular activities to have a 30-minute meeting with the school principal to discuss curriculum and participation responsibilities.

She also reached out to a parent whose twin boys, who are homeschooled, participated in baseball at a local school district.

The mother wrote that after a short meeting with the principal, a plan was laid out for submitting grades and transcripts to the school district.

“Those years playing for the local school were such a fun blessing for our boys,” Schultz read from a letter the mother wrote. “The last day of their senior year they went in to thank the athletic director for the opportunity to play for the school, and he expressed that he was very glad the school allowed our boys to play, and that it only positively affected the athletic program.”

Larson, who has worked in public education for 22 years and the policy committee for 2 1/2 years, stated that she was not opposed to allowing homeschool students to participate in extracurricular activities, but wanted to make sure that the board “had a policy in place that ensures that (the district) is compliant with the applicable rules and regulations.”

She wanted to know if administrators within the district had had an opportunity to provide feedback on the policy. 

In previous meetings, Schultz said the topic had been discussed with the Superintendent and Mahomet-Seymour High School Athletic Director Matt Hensley.

Larson also wanted to know who would approve the curriculum, make sure that students are eligible and if there were any legal implications to the policy. 

She asked if the systems to bring homeschool students into the programs were in place after the policy is passed.

Larson, like McComb, wanted to see further development of the procedures behind the policy prior to passing the policy. 

“Again, I’m not opposed to this, but it was presented on Sept. 30,” Larson said. “I don’t see the expedience for it to go tonight. We can plan all of this, and look at something for it.”

Larson stated early that she could not vote yes for the policy change because she did not have enough information to make an educated decision.

Hall recommended that the board not adopt the policy because she did not feel that all of the questions had been answered to make it viable immediately.

“I think I heard you say that we should pass the policy and then we’ll figure out all the administrative procedures afterwards,” Hall said to Schultz. “We can do that, I’m not particularly comfortable with that; I think that there are some questions out there.

“At the top of the list is when does this start?”

Schultz replied that it would start immediately.

McComb said, “I’ve got a concern there. Like Lori, I’m not necessarily opposed to this, but I would feel much more comfortable if we would start at the beginning of the school year, especially since we’ve admitted that we don’t have it all figured out yet.”

Hall asked Schultz to speak more to the policy requirement of being enrolled in one course.

At the Oct. 21 meeting, Mahomet-Seymour Parent Katie McCue, who homeschools her daughter, talked about how the child participates in band at the junior high.

Schultz said that the one-course requirement for students participating in non-IHSA extracurricular activities is a blend between not requiring students to attend the public school at all and requiring them to attend half days, like some other schools in the Apollo Conference do.

She said she tried to find a middle ground that would allow the public school staff to have a touchpoint with the student during the school day while also continuing to honor the parent’s decision to homeschool.

Schultz also stated that the district already has issues with classroom space available for students. 

The requirement would also answer the question as to how students would enroll, show immunizations, physical reports and pay registration fees. 

According to Mahomet-Seymour Board policy 7:40: ” Requests for part-time attendance must be submitted to the principal of the school in the school attendance area where the student resides. All requests for attendance in the following school year must be submitted before May 1. “

Schultz talked about a list of questions from administrators that was provided to the board via email. She attempted to answer some of the questions, but stated that she “feels as though our job is to say this is what we would like to have happen, and then have other people be the implementors.”

Administrators asked how the homeschool parents would be made aware of opportunities. Schultz suggested that the district utilize the district’s online calendar. She said that she has heard from constituents that it would be nice to have one calendar where all the district information is centrally located.

Schultz also researched how the NCAA recognizes homeschool students and provided a form that the district could mimic to establish rigor.

Larson said that while she appreciates the information from the NCAA, alongside the information Schultz compiled from the IHSA and the IESA, she was still uncomfortable with the idea that the other administrators had not been consulted and that the plans were not ironed out.

“We’ve started the school year,” Larson said. “We’re into the school year and when you’re making comments about the details, in the new 2019-20 term of being on the board, we’ve been all about the details, so I’m trying to model the things that I get so that we move forward in an aligned way.” 

Hennesy said she was confused because on Oct. 21 the board discussed a movie policy that was modified to add a 48-hour notification to parents prior to their child being shown a movie in class. 

“We were told that that was too in the weeds, and that that needed to be taken out and done administratively,” Hennesy said. 

“So are we now saying that all of this detailing belongs inside of this policy?”

Hall said that she views this as a much larger change than the movie policy. 

McComb said that the detail does not need to be within the policy, but that he wanted to have a good handle on what the district was getting into.

Schultz said that was the suggestion that she was trying to make. 

“If someone wants it to be more streamlined or rigorous, there is this document provided by the NCAA where they ask people to fill out a two-page list about each course that they take, and from that, the NCAA decides if that is an acceptable course.”

The idea was that the district might utilize a practice similar to the NCAA to ensure that the homeschool courses were what the public system expects them to be. 

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” she said.

The IHSA requires that each homeschool student provides proof of residency and have at least five courses approved by the district.

By state law, homeschool students have to carry a seven-course load, unlike the public school student, who must carry a five-course load at minimum, and they are not allowed to drop a course or they are in violation of the law.

Schultz said that she did not know what giving the policy more time was going to accomplish.

Larson said she just didn’t feel like the plan was in place to properly implement the policy at this time. 

“I’m opposed that we don’t have all our ducks in a row to do it right starting tomorrow if it passes,” Larson said.

McComb reference the discrepancy between Schultz’s data that she presented and Hall’s findings when she called principals in October. Hall provided information from administrators who said their district did not have the homeschool participation policy, and Schultz found that many of the schools listed did have a policy within their board manual.

“That has me concerned a little bit because why is that?” he asked.

Schultz said that that point shows her that this policy is not that big of a deal within other school districts.

“This policy is in place in at least half the school districts in our state,” Schultz said. “If it was a problem, the superintendent would know.

“Problems rise to the superintendent.”

Schultz suggested that the District can implement homeschool participation in a way that is not difficult. 

“I don’t think that it is as difficult as we are making it, and I think the benefit far outweighs the minor blips that we are going to have to get into a routine,” she continued.

Schultz said that she understands the thought behind waiting until the 2020-21 school year to begin the implementation, but that “there are a bunch of kids who want to participate.”

For programs, such as sports that cut, that have already established participants, homeschool students will have to wait until the following year to participate. For other activities that will hold call-outs or try-outs in the upcoming months, homeschool students will be able to participate in the same manner that public school students do after the requirements set forth by the policy are approved.

Hall asked if in Schultz’s research, she found a situation where the curriculum was not approved.

Schultz said that she talked to the IHSA and they stated that the idea is to make sure that the student is being schooled. 

While the district has the responsibility to approve the homeschool curriculum, Schultz explained that it is not about micro-managing what is being taught outside of the public school, but rather to make sure the child is being educated.

Hennesy said that she believes the reason the curriculum approval is in place is so that athletes who are struggling in school don’t drop out, take a homeschool course, and then still participate in the activity.

“We have super-awesome principals and staff who understand what is going on in their buildings,” Hennesy said. “I think they are going to be able to sit down with a parent and understand if what is being presented is comparable and real to what is going on in the building. 

“It’s not going to be the same; across our district, we educate kids where they are. We strive to. So even the education we provide within our buildings doesn’t look the same for every student. 

“I don’t think it would be fair to have a different standard for a homeschool student.”

Larson suggested that the board hold off on the passing of the policy for a few months so that a plan can be put into place.

“I just want it to be done the right way,” Larson said.

Schultz asked how the procedure of the policy coming to vote was not done the “right way.” Schultz felt that, per board policy and procedure, the policy had gone through all the required steps and discussion to bring it to vote.

Hennesy asked how setting the standard of policy being passed only with procedure will affect how future policy inquiries are handled.

McComb agreed that he only felt comfortable in voting yes if there was a future date of implementation put on the policy.

“There are processes that need to be put in place,” McComb said. “And you’re right, we don’t need to put them in place, the staff needs to put them in place.”

McComb questioned whether or not students who take a class each semester and earn credit would receive a Mahomet-Seymour diploma at the end of the four years. 

Schultz stated that the Mahomet-Seymour standards for a diploma include core courses, such as English and Math, to receive a diploma. She stated that the courses the homeschool students take, even if it is one science class, could be counted as an elective credit, and would not count towards a diploma unless the student were enrolled in school full-time per the Mahomet-Seymour requirements.

McComb’s other concern was that Mahomet-Seymour athletes who were enrolled in public school would drop-out when struggling and become homeschooled, still being able to participate.

“We’re going to have a child who is struggling to stay academically eligible, and we are going to have a parent who says, ‘Well, I’m just going to take this child out, and I’m going to do homeschooling, and that way I’m sure they pass the classes and stay eligible,” McComb stated.

Schlutz said that she believes the building administrators would be able to identify that, and then deal with it appropriately.

She also said that if the child is struggling in public school, a one-on-one situation may actually be what is needed to help them be more successful academically.

Hall voiced concern over the tasks that would be added to administrators list of things to get done.

“There is a significant amount of work that goes along with this policy,” she said. “Again, I’m just trying to explore and figure out what it is going to look like. I appreciate that that is being handed off, but again, I think we are putting a lot on people’s plates who already have very full plates.”

Hennesy said there is help available, if needed.

Keefe asked Hall how the homeschool policy (7:40) was implemented in Morton while Hall was superintendent. 

“I honestly don’t remember,” she said. 

Schultz and Keefe suggested that since Hall had been through it before, she could offer additional suggestions and guidance.

Hall said she would have to go back and look.

McComb suggested that the district implement the policy for non-IHSA and non-IESA sports in 2020 as a trial run; then wait until the start of the 2020-21 school year for those that are sanctioned activities.

“Why do we have to bite it all off at once?” he said. “Why can’t we phase it in?”

Schultz and Hennesy chimed in that that would leave nearly two years time for some students to participate.

“All the research that Colleen did does not seem like this is that hard a hard task,” Hennesy said.

“Since we are in control of the process and procedure around it, we can choose to make it easy or we can choose to make it hard.”

Hennesy and Keefe said that the community has wanted and asked for the policy change. 

“We are partnering with them,” she said.

Hennesy said that the community will be understanding as the district works through the bumps and triumphs.

“We are working towards a goal together,” she said.

Keefe cited that people have come to talk to the board, and sent emails.

“They’ve all asked us to do this,” he said. 

Hennesy said while the opinion may be out there, she had not heard from one person who was opposed to the policy revision.

During the newly instated public question and comment period after board discussion, Katie McCue stated that she believes it would be difficult for a parent to pull off a stunt where they “trick the district” because the community would see what was going on. 

She also suggested that the district reach out to other principals who have the policy in place, like Unity, to see how easy the implementation can be.

Dee Chapman, who homeschooled her children, said the burden of educating the child is on the homeschool parent and regulated by state law.

Larson and Hall said that they appreciated the conversation and the research put into the policy.