Public School related question

[Slipper]

We withdrew our daughter from school over Christmas break. Two days before school let out, I filled out the paperwork to withdraw her. They said everything was taken care of. I took the paperwork from the school to our cover church and he said he would make sure that his side of the paperwork was taken care of.

 

Today was the first day back at school for my other girls. My littlest stayed home with me.

 

Tonight I received an automated call from the school to let me know that my youngest had not been at school that day (no big surprise to anyone). It advised me that I would need to send an excuse in tomorrow as to why she was absent.

 

Should I assume that something has gone awry with my paperwork? Should I contact the school or my cover church about this or wait and see what happens?

 

Side information - It appears that I am only one of about four people in our district that homeschol. So it could simply be that they don't know what to do. Also, the vice principal of this school hates me. As in, really hates me. (Which is fine, I don't like her either). We ended up in mediation a couple of years ago and the school had to agree to a lot of compensatory services for her mistakes. (She was a teacher at the time). If there's a way to cause me problems, she will do it. I was hoping to quietly slip away without her involvement. If I send an email about this, it will land on her desk as she's responsible for truancies.

 

Updated on post 19.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Slipper

[Ester Maria]

I would contact the school, yes, and explain that I have withdrawn my child.

 

I cannot see how she can cause you any real problems - you have not done anything illegal, whatever it was that you specifically had to do you did, and if other people did not do their part of the job as regards formalities, it is not your fault. You do not "owe" any excuses to anyone, simply inform them that your daugher is no longer their student.

[Daisy]

If you are part of a cover school, can't you just call the public school and state something like this?

 

"We've withdrawal our children from x public school and enrolled them at So-in-So Elementary. You should be receiving a request for their school records soon. If you need to confirm enrollment before then please contact So-in-So Elementary school at 555-1234."

 

My Dad was principal of a Christian school in AL that offered a cover school for homeschoolers. They answered questions like that all the time.

[Night Elf]

I would worry the school doesn't know how to handle it and I would contact the cover church first. Maybe all the paperwork hasn't been completely processed. Of course, I'm not familiar with a cover church so I don't know if they actually assist the parents with homeschooling issues, but it can't hurt to ask. And did you fill out and receive copies of withdrawal forms? If so, you could send a copy of the copies to the front office of the school.

[Myeightkiddies]

Chances are the child's name is just still in the computer because the school did not remove it yet. I would not worry.

 

Just call the cover school tomorrow and inquire as to whether everything is in order. Most likely they will state that it is. At that point just let them know that the school's computer called you. They will probably respond that you need not worry. If the school contacts you again to call them.

 

Sometimes school withdraws the student but the name isn't removed from everything right away. Usually it is an oversight of a school employee to go through everything. As long as you are enrolled in the cover school and all is well, the child is not truant. If the school calls, human this time, just give them the name and number of the cover school.

[Jean in Newcastle]

If you are part of a cover school, can't you just call the public school and state something like this?

 

"We've withdrawal our children from x public school and enrolled them at So-in-So Elementary. You should be receiving a request for their school records soon. If you need to confirm enrollment before then please contact So-in-So Elementary school at 555-1234."

 

My Dad was principal of a Christian school in AL that offered a cover school for homeschoolers. They answered questions like that all the time.

 

:iagree:

[Ellie]

Chances are the child's name is just still in the computer because the school did not remove it yet. I would not worry.

 

Just call the cover school tomorrow and inquire as to whether everything is in order. Most likely they will state that it is. At that point just let them know that the school's computer called you. They will probably respond that you need not worry. If the school contacts you again to call them.

 

Sometimes school withdraws the student but the name isn't removed from everything right away. Usually it is an oversight of a school employee to go through everything. As long as you are enrolled in the cover school and all is well, the child is not truant. If the school calls, human this time, just give them the name and number of the cover school.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[Sun]

Is your child's former school who you contact for enrollment services? If there is any other sort of district enrollment office, I would send that office an email. That would avoid the vice principal being involved. If you must contact the school, I would do so via email so that you have a record of having notified them.

 

I would send an email to someone tomorrow because otherwise I would worry a little bit about it.

[justasque]

Happens all the time, usually because the admin building/office people got the info, but didn't pass it down to the school building/office people. Double-check with the cover school, and call the admin folks if need be or even the school office to be sure it gets cleared up, but don't stress.

[Slipper]

I would contact the school, yes, and explain that I have withdrawn my child.

 

I cannot see how she can cause you any real problems - you have not done anything illegal, whatever it was that you specifically had to do you did, and if other people did not do their part of the job as regards formalities, it is not your fault. You do not "owe" any excuses to anyone, simply inform them that your daugher is no longer their student.

 

The vice principal cannot cause me any REAL problems, but she can certainly cause my daughter grief (she's having a lot of stress related problems). This is the same lady who filed a complaint against me with the principal because I offered to send in items for a Halloween party. (The school policy is to have only parties at Christmas - I was sent a letter from the principal stating that the teacher felt I was encouraging students to not focus on academics). She would never send home report cards and when I sent an email asking for another copy to be sent home, went crying (literally) to the principal saying that I was harrassing her with emails (I did ask for proof of that as I don't put ugly stuff in emails but she said she deleted the offensive ones). I quit sending emails and she complained to the IEP team that I was refusing to communicate with her. I have never had problems with my children's teachers as they are only too happy to have my kids in their class and my support. It was a really bad year. She was flatly vindicative towards my oldest daughter which earned me a ton of compensatory services. She can't hurt me, but I don't plan to go near her unless I have to. She's scary. lol

 

I'll send an email to the cover school to make sure they took care of everything. Prior to withdrawing her, I did send an email letting the school know my intent to withdraw her at break. I sent it to the principal, guidance counselor, her teacher and the school nurse. I sent another email (thanking them for their help) the last day of school before the holidays. It's a gossipy place so I can't imagine that they are unaware.

 

I'm hoping it's an administrative snafu and she's not gumming up the works somehow. Thank you for your advice :)

[Myeightkiddies]

According to Alabama's law, children can be homeschooled either by using a private tutor or through a church school. Since you mentioned cover school, I'm assuming you are going the church school route.

 

To be able to homeschool using a church (cover) school, the following needs to be done:

 

(taken from the HSLDA site because I was too lazy to quote from somewhere else)

a. “The enrollment and attendance of a child in a church school shall be filed with the local public school superintendent by the parent … on a form provided by the superintendent ... which shall be countersigned by the administrator of the church school.†Ala. Code § 16-28-7. (No requirement to file annually. Only need to file this form once at initial enrollment in church school.)

 

Did you file the necessary paperwork that is indicated in the portion emphasized in bold?

 

If not, you need to do that. Once that is completed - unless already completed by you - you are fulfilling what is required to begin homeschooling. The principal of that public school has no authority over you as you will now report to the cover school's administration and the superintendent of your county. Be sure if you mail the above mentioned document you do so via USPS Certified Mail with return signature receipt. Save the signature receipt.

 

d. If the local school district believes a family is not in compliance with the law, it must give the family 3 days’ written notice (§ 16-28-16) prior to instituting criminal charges.

 

Let's say something is amiss. They would need to contact you and give you three days to respond to an accusation of non-compliance. If you receive such notification, contact your cover school. They will call the superintendent and verify enrollment. Again, you are not dealing with your local school or that (public school) principal.

 

Tomorrow (or today rather) call the cover school and verify that enrollment is completed and all is fine. Be certain you have filed the appropriate paperwork with the superintendent's office. If you have not, file it as soon as possible. Ignore the attendance calls by the school and just focus on this.

 

All will be fine.

[mom2scouts]

Just call the school and tell them your child was withdrawn. I withdrew my son from PS at the end of the year. I filed my paperwork in June and in mid-August, I still got a call from the school for the first 3 days.

[TrulySusan]

According to Alabama's law, children can be homeschooled either by using a private tutor or through a church school. Since you mentioned cover school, I'm assuming you are going the church school route.

 

To be able to homeschool using a church (cover) school, the following needs to be done:

 

(taken from the HSLDA site because I was too lazy to quote from somewhere else)

a. “The enrollment and attendance of a child in a church school shall be filed with the local public school superintendent by the parent … on a form provided by the superintendent ... which shall be countersigned by the administrator of the church school.†Ala. Code § 16-28-7. (No requirement to file annually. Only need to file this form once at initial enrollment in church school.)

 

Did you file the necessary paperwork that is indicated in the portion emphasized in bold?

 

If not, you need to do that. Once that is completed - unless already completed by you - you are fulfilling what is required to begin homeschooling. The principal of that public school has no authority over you as you will now report to the cover school's administration and the superintendent of your county. Be sure if you mail the above mentioned document you do so via USPS Certified Mail with return signature receipt. Save the signature receipt.

 

d. If the local school district believes a family is not in compliance with the law, it must give the family 3 days’ written notice (§ 16-28-16) prior to instituting criminal charges.

 

Let's say something is amiss. They would need to contact you and give you three days to respond to an accusation of non-compliance. If you receive such notification, contact your cover school. They will call the superintendent and verify enrollment. Again, you are not dealing with your local school or that (public school) principal.

 

Tomorrow (or today rather) call the cover school and verify that enrollment is completed and all is fine. Be certain you have filed the appropriate paperwork with the superintendent's office. If you have not, file it as soon as possible. Ignore the attendance calls by the school and just focus on this.

 

All will be fine.

 

I am in Alabama and this is what I was going to say. Mail a letter to the superintendant yourself-don't rely on your PS or cover school to do it for you. I sent ours certified because I'm weird that way.:lol:

 

Also, we got the automated calls for 2-3 days.

[mcconnellboys]

I would call my cover church and make certain that they got the paperwork in and perhaps ask them to call about it. Perhaps a third party involved would help prevent problems with the vice principal....

[Slipper]

According to Alabama's law, children can be homeschooled either by using a private tutor or through a church school. Since you mentioned cover school, I'm assuming you are going the church school route.

 

To be able to homeschool using a church (cover) school, the following needs to be done:

 

(taken from the HSLDA site because I was too lazy to quote from somewhere else)

a. “The enrollment and attendance of a child in a church school shall be filed with the local public school superintendent by the parent … on a form provided by the superintendent ... which shall be countersigned by the administrator of the church school.†Ala. Code § 16-28-7. (No requirement to file annually. Only need to file this form once at initial enrollment in church school.)

 

Did you file the necessary paperwork that is indicated in the portion emphasized in bold?

 

If not, you need to do that. Once that is completed - unless already completed by you - you are fulfilling what is required to begin homeschooling. The principal of that public school has no authority over you as you will now report to the cover school's administration and the superintendent of your county. Be sure if you mail the above mentioned document you do so via USPS Certified Mail with return signature receipt. Save the signature receipt.

 

d. If the local school district believes a family is not in compliance with the law, it must give the family 3 days’ written notice (§ 16-28-16) prior to instituting criminal charges.

 

Let's say something is amiss. They would need to contact you and give you three days to respond to an accusation of non-compliance. If you receive such notification, contact your cover school. They will call the superintendent and verify enrollment. Again, you are not dealing with your local school or that (public school) principal.

 

Tomorrow (or today rather) call the cover school and verify that enrollment is completed and all is fine. Be certain you have filed the appropriate paperwork with the superintendent's office. If you have not, file it as soon as possible. Ignore the attendance calls by the school and just focus on this.

 

All will be fine.

 

I withdrew her from school and gave that paperwork to the cover/church school. He told me that he would have to file the paperwork with the board of education. We're a very small place and there aren't a lot of homeschoolers here, so I'm hoping that I did everything correctly. I wrote down exactly what he said to do and he said I had taken care of everything that I needed to take care of to homeschool.

 

I sent him an email and asked for verification that our paperwork is fine (explaining the situation and I just wanted to make sure that we were doing what we needed to do). He's really nice so I'm sure I'll hear back from him today.

 

Thanks again :)

[Tiramisu]

When we withdrew my dc from a private school, we got calls about snow days, etc. for months afterward. It was so annoying because they would wake us up when we were cozy in bed. Everything was in order, but it took awhile and an extra phone call to take us out of their automated system.

[PeacefulChaos]

We got the automated call the first day or two of school, also. (We began homeschooling after last school year, so it was actually at the beginning of the year in August - I had filed the necessary paperwork back in March.) They had all the paperwork right, but it sometimes takes a few days to get everything done with the call system. I would just call and ask to be removed, since she doesn't attend anymore. :)

[EmilyinND]

[quote name=Slipper;3467730

Also' date=' the vice principal of this school hates me. As in, really hates me. (Which is fine, I don't like her either). We ended up in mediation a couple of years ago and the school had to agree to a lot of compensatory services for her mistakes. (She was a teacher at the time). If there's a way to cause me problems, she will do it. I was hoping to quietly slip away without her involvement. If I send an email about this, it will land on her desk as she's responsible for truancies.

 

The vice principal cannot cause me any REAL problems, but she can certainly cause my daughter grief (she's having a lot of stress related problems). This is the same lady who filed a complaint against me with the principal because I offered to send in items for a Halloween party. (The school policy is to have only parties at Christmas - I was sent a letter from the principal stating that the teacher felt I was encouraging students to not focus on academics). She would never send home report cards and when I sent an email asking for another copy to be sent home, went crying (literally) to the principal saying that I was harrassing her with emails (I did ask for proof of that as I don't put ugly stuff in emails but she said she deleted the offensive ones). I quit sending emails and she complained to the IEP team that I was refusing to communicate with her. I have never had problems with my children's teachers as they are only too happy to have my kids in their class and my support. It was a really bad year. She was flatly vindicative towards my oldest daughter which earned me a ton of compensatory services. She can't hurt me, but I don't plan to go near her unless I have to. She's scary. lol

 

I'm hoping it's an administrative snafu and she's not gumming up the works somehow. Thank you for your advice :)

 

Sheesh, how does someone like that become a vice principal?! :001_huh: Must've been slim pickin's !:lol:

[Slipper]

Definitely slim pickings in my area. The fact that she's married to an attorney probably didn't hurt things either...Promotions are held based on seniority, not capability.

 

I received an update from my mother. :001_huh: She called to tell me that my request to homeschool had become jammed up at the board office. They called my mother (who is a guidance counselor at another school in the district) and asked her why I had chosen to pull my youngest out of school. Mother (who I don't think is very happy with my choice) blamed things partially on my daughter's health and the rest on the teacher (which I wish she hadn't done). She assured them that my daughter would be back at school next year and they promised her that I would have first pick of any teacher I wanted for all my kids. They were very worried that I would be taking my middle daughter out of school (the one I hope will be home-schooled next year). She assured them that my middle daughter would be at public school. (That particular daughter is a classic achiever in nearly all areas and the school likes to 'show' her off). They said that I was approved "for the rest of this year" and that they looked forward to helping me find great teachers for all my girls next year. :blink:

 

So, well, yeah. Things are just fine for now.