(Seguin) — Folks will have to wait and see whether the Seguin ISD will allow homeschool students the opportunity to participate in its UIL activities.
The motion to table the decision was made Tuesday night by Trustee\ Denise Crettenden.
Following a few seconds of silence among the other trustees, Crettenden opted to table the item instead of agreeing to the district’s recommendation not to allow non-enrolled students to participate in UIL activities at this time.
As reported by KWED, interest from some parents prompted the agenda item. The interest was in response to recent legislation spelled out in House Bill 547 that now allows homeschooled children to participate in UIL activities. The House bill, however, can only be implemented if approved by each respective school district.
After district officials reviewed the measures as outlined in the House Bill Crettenden felt that more homework was necessary to justify a decision one way or another.
“I looked up some other school districts who have started to allow home school students to participate. I saw that their perimeters were very robust. They knew exactly – they had picked the Stanford Achievement Test. They had chosen was sports and activities. They just had a lot of information. They had designated who was looking at eligibility, who was bringing in that test. There were just a lot of specifics that I don’t think we had, and I would want to hear about what activities people may want to participate in and things like that and craft a local policy before we just pass a blanket policy,” said Crettenden.
Also agreeing to the decision to table the item was Trustee Linda Duncan. Duncan indicated wanting to hear even more from those parents who have chosen to homeschool.
“I also would like to hear the rationale between yes, we’d like our student, our child, to participate in UIL activities but not participate in your educational opportunities. I’d like to see what the difference is between those two things,” said Duncan.
Before discussing the issue, trustees heard from a pair of homeschool parents. The first was Jackie Biesenbach. The mother of two stated that when looking at the community as a whole, the city of Seguin’s homeschooled children, they are still students of Seguin. She says they live here, work here, run small businesses here, and give back to the community.
Following the board’s decision to table the item, Biesenbach said she is at least appreciative that her reasoning was considered.
“It’s a win so far. I mean, they didn’t say no. I know they were kind of hesitant to even make any kind of motion. But I think that if they were able to speak to the home school parents on our reasoning behind this, they might be able to change their minds,” said Biesenbach.
Also speaking before the school board was local father Forrest Fletcher. Fletcher says while he understands that there might be concerns about resources and fairness, he believes these challenges can be managed effectively.
“It’s a good sign that they are wanting to do the due diligence. I think that’s a big, big indicator. I think rather than paint this picture that we are going to have 100 students come and bombard our school district, I think I see some interest and opportunity. I think that I understand that this will require a lot of change. It’s going to acquire some accommodations and stuff but at the same time, I think it’s a positive outcome for the community. In my case, my daughter is special needs. She does not flourish in a school setting, but she does flourish in a single setting where it’s parent and student. However, she is very outgoing and wants to participate in events and she wants to participate in sports, and I don’t know that they are quite considering special circumstances. I think they are looking at this as a whole and not looking at it on a case-by-case basis and I think that if they did investigate it to that point that they’d find that there is a need and a niche for this,” said Fletcher.
According to Biesenbach, she has reached out to districts who have already approved the House Bill. Currently, 35 out of the state’s 1,20 school districts have made the local decision to allow home school students in their programs. District officials hope to have the item back on the agenda for an official decision as soon as possible.