Homeschooled students in Wall Township are no longer eligible to participate in school sports, clubs and other extracurricular activities under a policy change approved by the school board.
Several parents and home-schooled children asked the Monmouth County suburban board to reconsider the new policy, but one board member abstained at the Sept. 19 meeting, and the change passed unanimously. approved.
Wall’s changes come amid a growing number of homeschoolers in New Jersey. This is in part due to a surge in students dropping out of public schools during the coronavirus pandemic to be taught at home by their parents or through private online schools.
According to the New Jersey Department of Education’s homeschooling guidelines, New Jersey law governs whether homeschooled students can participate in public school extracurricular activities such as high school sports, school theater productions, and clubs in about 600 schools in the state. The board of education is allowed to decide.
According to the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, 20 states, including Pennsylvania, allow homeschooled students to participate in sports and other interdisciplinary activities. New Jersey is one of five states that leaves it up to local governments to decide whether to include students learning from home.
Wall Board of Education officials did not respond to requests for comment. But officials said the policy change was influenced by similar bans on home-schooled students in nearby districts, according to school board minutes.
“This policy change is consistent with the policy of the majority of schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties,” the school board’s policy committee wrote in the minutes of its Aug. 7 meeting.
The New Jersey Homeschool Association, a statewide volunteer organization founded in 1997, takes no position on school districts’ decisions to ban homeschool students from extracurricular activities, a representative said.
“While it would be great if school district officials were lenient and allowed homeschoolers access to some school programs, they also have a legal right not to do so. However, it is our hope that we can find a more comprehensive way forward,” the representative said.
Scott Woodruff, director of legal and legislative advocacy for the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, a Christian organization that provides legal representation to homeschool families, also said the organization takes a position on the Wall Township Board of Education’s decision. He said that he did not take any.
“However, homeschoolers and public school students go to the same chapels, play in the same parks, and shop in the same stores,” Woodruff said. In these divisive times, it’s clear that everyone benefits from a more collaborative community. ”
“By allowing homeschoolers to participate in school activities with their public school friends, we have the potential to create stronger, safer communities. If we exclude homeschoolers, we are missing out on this opportunity.” said Woodruff.
The policy change sparked an outcry from some parents and students in Wall, a small school district in Monmouth County with about 3,270 public school students. Several community members spoke during the public comment portion of the Wall Township School Board meeting before the vote in September.
“It’s a sad day when we decide that excluding our kids from things is good for them,” said one parent.
Several home-schooled students also petitioned the school board to reconsider the ban.
“It’s hard to understand why you would want to take this opportunity away from me,” said the sixth-grade homeschooler, who recently qualified for the middle school soccer team.
“Tonight, I ask you to continue to give me and other homeschoolers a chance,” the boy said.
The district’s old policy allowed homeschooled students to participate in extracurricular activities. The new policy states that home-educated children will not be allowed to participate in their school’s extracurricular activities, including high school sports.
Several other New Jersey school districts have made similar changes in recent years that exclude homeschooled students from sports teams and other extracurricular activities.
In Middletown, Monmouth County, children who live within the school district but are not enrolled in public schools may participate in “high school interscholastic sports programs, school-sponsored athletic/sports programs, or extracurricular activities.” It is said to be prohibited. Last updated in 2021.
Dozens of Middletown community members have been calling on the school board in recent months to amend an existing policy that excludes homeschoolers, according to meeting minutes and videos.
At a meeting on September 26th, a fifth-grade homeschooler said, “Maybe it’s okay to give me and other homeschoolers options and let them do what other kids are doing.” . “It will mean a lot to me and other homeschoolers in Middletown.”
At the August meeting, School Board Vice President Jacqueline Tabacco said, “We want to keep the discussion about sports open,” and said she would bring it up at the next policy committee meeting.
Middletown School Board President Frank Capone and Tobacco Co. did not respond to requests for comment.
Homeschooling has grown in popularity over the past two decades, with homeschool enrollment increasing 75% between 1999 and 2019 to more than 2 million students nationwide, according to the National Homeschool Association. This option has seen the biggest increase during the coronavirus pandemic.
During the first year of COVID-19, homeschooling boomed in New Jersey. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, there has been a 300% increase in the number of students officially withdrawn from school districts for home instruction under the supervision of their families.
While some of those children may have returned to public schools, homeschooling in New Jersey appears to be more popular than before the pandemic, according to data from the state Department of Education.
In 2019, before the pandemic began, 1,295 students left the district to learn from home, according to state data. When the pandemic hit in 2020, 5,326 students dropped out of school.
As the pandemic continued, 4,787 students left the district to learn from home in 2021. And in 2022, once schools return to full normalcy, an additional 2,480 New Jersey students left public schools to try learning from home.
The state previously did not allow homeschoolers to participate in any extracurricular activities. However, in 2011, the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association amended its bylaws.
According to NJSIAA guidelines, homeschooled students “may participate in interscholastic athletics if the local school board, in its discretion, approves the participation of homeschooled students on high school teams.”
In May 2022, the State Assembly Education Committee required all school districts in New Jersey to allow homeschooled students to participate in extracurricular activities (sports, clubs, theater productions, etc.) in the public school district where they reside. Approved bill A1041, which requires
However, the bill has not yet received a final vote in the Assembly, and an identical bill has not been introduced in the state Senate.
The bill also lacks support from the New Jersey School Boards Association, which opposes the change.
Janet Bamford, communications director for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said the association “supports local decisions on this issue.”
“Local decisions about homeschooler participation are the best approach to this issue,” Bamford said. This would “allow the region to reasonably resolve operational issues,” including not only whether students meet standards, but also who pays for transportation, equipment, and supplies.
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jackie roman may reach jroman@njadvancemedia.com.