Team Effort Wins Sports Access in Easton
by Howard Richman
Few homeschoolers do what Kelly Wakeman did for her 9th
grade Civics course: she gave a speech which actually helped change the rules
in her community. Her speech did not
change things right away. However, it
did lead to an ongoing debate in the Easton and Allentown newspapers which did
eventually change the rules.
Just after her speech on August 9, 1996, the Easton Area
School Board voted for the second time against homeschool participation in
school sports and extra-curricular activities.
Eight months later, on April 14, 1997, they reversed themselves and
voted to permit homeschool participation.
Reporter Fred Walter wrote this about Kelly's speech
(August 10) in the Allentown Morning Call:
The board heard an emotional
appeal from Kelly Wakeman, a 14-year-old home-schooled student.
"I was shocked and disappointed," Wakeman said
when she heard of the policy.
"This decision brought me to tears," she said,
noting that she had dreams of playing on a soccer team.
Under Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association rules, she said she could only play at Easton where she is a resident...
The main argument against homeschool participation was
that school students had to keep up good grades to participate on school
sports. The implication was that
homeschoolers shouldn't be allowed to participate because they might not be
doing the work.
That argument was countered in a September 8 article by
Melanie Novak in the Allentown Morning
Call which focused upon Kelly's poise and academic success. Here is a selection from that article:
Articulate and poised, Kelly
is comfortable discussing the stock market one minute and historic movies the
next. Her sense of self-awareness is
something that often eludes the average adolescent.
Kelly, her brother, Chad, and sister Becky have blossomed
during the Wakeman's 10 years of tutelage, their parents say....
Easton school officials confirm the district's 43
home-school children perform at and often well above national averages for
standardized tests....
The Wakeman's portfolio contains pictures of Kelly's
annual archaeology dig -- she's really interested in hurricanes and tornadoes,
too. There's copies of the Wakeman's
Newsletter, written by all three children, and copies of short stories, poems,
book reviews and math homework. There's
lots of information about the Roman Empire -- the whole family spent a long
time on the Roman Empire last year -- and pictures from a play with other
home-schooled student actors.
Kelly who plays soccer for a community league, had hopes
to play in the public school program; Easton's board voted against that last
month.
She thinks if board members got to know her, they'd
change their minds. And anyone who
doubted the quality of a home-school education would change his mind, too. She said:
"They'd see the proof."
Many other people participated in the lobbying
effort. For example, Ingrid Wakeman,
Effie Bitner, Jeffrey & Karen Smith, Bernard Bauman, Richard DeCrocker, Deb
Bell, 15-year-old Christopher Orlemann, and formerly-homeschooled
college-student Jeff Heimbach all wrote letters which were published in Lehigh
Valley newspapers.
You can find out more about the effort in Ingrid
Wakeman's article which appeared in Issue 57 of this newsletter. She informed school board members about
friendly policies in other districts using materials obtained from Deb Bell at
the Home School Resource Center (717-533-1669). She also let the members know that the issue would not end with a
"no" vote.
The Wakeman family, who led the effort, put into effect
many of the lessons that we learned the hard way during the lobbying effort for
the homeschool law (see my book Story of a Bill). I am convinced that the battle for
homeschool participation can be won in almost any district where homeschoolers
mount a persistent lobbying effort, educate school board members about friendly
policies in other districts, and where homeschooled students speak to the
hearts of the board members.Ą