No More Public School
(Page 2 of 7)
July/August 1972
By H. Bennett
Yours truly,
(my signature)
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I sent off two copies, one to the principal of my child's school, the other to his teacher.
If you want to avoid hassles with the authorities, you'll do the same. Here's why:
When the school officials get the letter in their files, they can write DR in the column on their attendance records that asks "Reason for Nonattendance". DR means dropped.
As long as the student's name appears on the school records, teachers will ask questions: "I wonder what happened to Johnny? Illness? Moved away? Family problems? Maybe dead?" Your letter will put an end to these questions, and will prevent referral of your "case" to the truant officer. Remember, moving away, and attendance in a private school are both legitimate reasons to take your child out of public school.
GETTING LOCAL INFORMATION
If you are living in another state, or you want to check up on local policies for taking your child out of the public school, do this:
Telephone the district Superintendent of Schools. You will find his number listed in the telephone directory. Ask to talk with the person who handles "attendance records'". His title is usually "Attendance Supervisor".
Here's what you say:
"Hello, I'm (name), and my child is attending the (name) School. We are going to be sending our child to a private school in (date). Are there any particular forms which your office requires us to fill out when we take him out of the public schools?"
If it turns out that there are forms to fill out, ask where to get them and what you must do to process them. This kind of information is standard procedure, and they will be glad to assist you.
DON'T EVER GIVE THEM YOUR NAME
In Paul Goodman's novel, THE GRAND PIANO, the hero, who systematically plays truant, says, "Don't ever give them your name. Once they get your name they own you."
If you were never to register your child in public school when he came to be kindergarten age, the school authorities would have no way of tracing you. Consider the thousands of children in parochial schools who have never registered with the public school authorities. You would be more or less free of school hassles forever if you did that.
I know of one family in San Francisco who simply never registered. The only problem they ran into occurred when they took the child to public places during school hours. Sometimes strangers, usually old ladies, came up and asked why the child was not in school. The mother developed a technique for putting them off. She whispered to the stranger, "Birth defects. They won't take her." This caused an embarrassed hush. But for those who pursued the question further, the mother was always quick to reply, "I'd rather not talk about it if you don't mind." It worked.
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