Lewis Cass changes home-school withdrawal form after wording causes anger from parents

Aug. 10—Lewis Cass School Corporation changed its middle school withdrawal form for parents who wish to home-school their kids this week after some parents expressed anger at a paragraph in the original form.

The paragraph in question stated that parents understand withdrawing their child from school is likely to reduce the child's future earnings and increase their likelihood of being unemployed in the future.

"The line that they added at the end of the document was unnecessary and should never have been added," community member Rachelle Pearson said. "It's not a good representation of their school and bashed those that home-school. It's a statistic, but not for all home-schooled children. Many succeed and do very well. Some don't. It's the same for those in school."

Lewis Cass Superintendent Tim Garland said the corporation has used the form for years. However, frustration from parents and comments on social media led school officials to review the form and make some changes.

"That form has been here for a long, long time, and we've just continued to use it," Garland said. "On Friday it was brought to our attention that it was offensive to the home-school parents. Nobody has ever said anything to us, and nobody had ever really inquired about it, and we didn't realize it was offensive. On that same Friday after people noted it, we made some changes, and now we are using (just) the state form."

According to Indiana Code 20-33-2-28.6, parents of high school children who transfer out of Indiana school systems to non-accredited nonpublic schools are required to sign a withdrawal form before leaving the school system. If a student's parents fail to sign the form, the student is classified as a dropout.

The subsequent section of Indiana Code specifies that the department of education should compile statistics about "the likely consequences of life without a high school diploma," including the likelihood of having a lower paying job or unemployment. That information must be updated and distributed to schools every two years.

Garland said receiving signed withdrawal forms for home-schooled students is important to many school systems because schools must report withdrawals and dropouts to the state and dropouts count against schools' graduation rates. He apologized to anyone who was offended by the wording in the original withdrawal form.

"Our intent was not to cause ill or hurt feelings," Garland said. "That was not our intent. Some people felt that way, and when they brought it to our attention we fixed it."

Garland added that Lewis Cass has a community of home-schooled students who attend some classes at the school and play sports. He encouraged parents and students with questions or concerns to reach out to the corporation to discuss those issues.

"We're all in this together. We need to work together on this and not against one another," he said. "We're not perfect by any means. We have our faults, and we just need to know how we can help the community out to understand where we're coming from and change to make things better."

The issue seemed resolved between the school and parents after came it up Wednesday evening at the Lewis Cass School Board meeting during public comments. Community members voiced their opinions about the form to school board members, and board members apologized to the community for the form's wording.

"I understand that this form is typically used for those students who decide to drop out of school," community member Ryan Preston said. "The issue I have is the wording of the form puts home-school students in the same category."

School Board President Ryan Zeck was quick to clarify that the school was wrong to use that form and emphasized the importance of home-schooled students at Lewis Cass.

"The way I interpret it, that form with those specific sentences at the end of it currently is intended for somebody in that 16 to 18 age range who is just saying they're out of school," Zeck said. "In no way, shape or form was it meant to be used for students transferring to another school, for somebody to be home-schooled, and definitely not for somebody in the junior high. Here's what happened: the junior high needed a form, simple as that, the high school sent it to the junior high, and the junior high copied and pasted it. All I can ask for is some grace because we messed up."

The school board members encouraged members of the community to keep an open line of communication.

After discussion between the school board and community members, it was agreed that everyone is on the same side and working toward a common goal to care for and educate the children in the community.

"You've done everything that I would ever ask," Preston told the school board. "You apologized, you set your pride aside, and you did the right thing, so thank you. We've got to work as a team."