HEAC Report – May 2018

Granite State Home Educators has a representative on the Home Education Advisory Council (HEAC), Kitty Michelotti, as of January 2018. She will provide reports following each meeting to share with the community.


HEAC Report – May 2018

The May Meeting of the Home Education Advisory Council was held May 10 at the Department of Education in Concord.

The first item of business addressed was the New Hampshire School Board Associations model policy on Home Education. HEAC Chairman George D’Orazio (Catholics United for Home Education) helped to update the policy to be in compliance with RSA-193-A. The revised model policy is being read by the NHSBA and we will discover the date of adoption when HEAC reconvenes in September.

In regards to HEAC members addressing the School Administration Association, it was determined that volunteers could attend their monthly meetings beginning in the fall of 2018. HEAC volunteers will attend as many SAA meetings as logistically possible to educate the SAA on HEAC’s role, how we can help them, and how we can work together for better understanding of homeschooling.

As contact had not yet been returned from DCYF, there was no update on appointing an ombudsman. The council was aware that SB590 and SB582, both pertaining to DCYF, were priority for the organization. Attempts at communication would continue over the summer and be discussed in September.

The NH DOE’s reporting issue was addressed. It was noted that some participating agencies were not given a space on their form (A12E) to record how many homeschoolers were reported to them. It was also noted that all participating agencies had on file the number of declared homeschoolers, it would require personnel to go through those files, record and submit the numbers to the DOE.

Finally the Chairman’s annual report to the DOE was discussed and approved for submission.

The public meeting ended early so the council could be educated on RSA 91-A New Hampshire’s Right-To-Know law. Assistant Attorney General Nancy Smith gave a presentation on the law to the council for the remainder of the meeting.

By Kitty Michelotti