Homeschooler is Forced Into Public System in NH
A NH court has ordered a 10 year old into a government-run school because the judge decided, in part, that the child's Christian upbringing is too limiting.
An Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney filed motions with a New
Hampshire court Monday asking it to reconsider and stay its decision to
order a 10-year-old home-schooled girl into a government-run school in
Meredith.
Although the marital master making recommendations to
the court agreed the child is “well liked, social and interactive with
her peers, academically promising, and intellectually at or superior to
grade level” and that “it is clear that the home schooling...has more
than kept up with the academic requirements of the...public school
system,” he nonetheless proposed that the Christian girl be ordered
into a government-run school after considering “the impact of [her
religious] beliefs on her interaction with others.” The court approved
the order.
“Parents have a fundamental right to make educational
choices for their children. In this case specifically, the court is
illegitimately altering a method of education that the court itself
admits is working,” said ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons of
Hampton. “The court is essentially saying that the evidence shows that,
socially and academically, this girl is doing great, but her religious
beliefs are a bit too sincerely held and must be sifted, tested by, and
mixed among other worldviews. This is a step too far for any court to
take.”
See the Alliance Defense Fund press release on this case.