The state agency with legal custody of two homeschooled teen-agers in Massachusetts has no intention of removing the children from their home since it would be “traumatic for the kids,” according to a government spokeswoman.
As WorldNetDaily reported, George and Nyssa Bryant, 15 and 13, respectively, have consistently refused to take a standardized assessment test Waltham Public Schools officials say they must take, even after being ordered to do so by Department of Social Services social workers. The teens’ parents, George Sr. and Kim Bryant, have been battling with local school personnel for six years, asserting all along they have the authority to direct the education of their children, not the local school district.
Although George Jr. and Nyssa have taken assessment tests in the past, they decided not to take them this time around – a decision their father says was theirs alone.
“They said, ‘They can’t order me to think; that’s my intellectual property,'” George Sr. told WorldNetDaily, quoting his children.
A several hours’ standoff at the Bryant home on Thursday included the presence of four law-enforcement officers and social worker Susan Etscovitz, who threatened to remove the children from the home. Though the government has legal custody of George Jr. and Nyssa, their parents still have physical custody.
The same day, the Bryants complied with a court order to take their children to a hotel to take the test, but the kids refused to actually complete the exam.
In Massachusetts, each local school district has latitude to develop its own homeschooling requirements. Similar policies exist only in Rhode Island and Utah. In Waltham, regulations include a requirement that parents file educational plans and develop a grading system for their home-educated children. The Bryants refused to do so and subsequently were ruled unfit parents. Periodic standardized testing is another way the local government schools “ensure educational progress and the attainment of minimum standards” of homeschooled students.
Denise Monteiro, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts DSS said the courts “dumped [the problem] on our lap” in December 2001. That’s when the agency took legal custody of the children.
At that time, Monteiro told WND, social workers, after reviewing the assessment tests the Bryants had taken, determined the children were “very well cared for” and that they were “not being harmed” in any way.
It was solely on the basis that the teens had suffered “educational neglect” that they were taken under the jurisdiction of the state, explained George Sr. And that determination was based on the family’s refusal to comply with local homeschool requirements they believe are contrary to the state constitution.
Monteiro explained that until this latest refusal by the children to take the assessment test, there were no problems with the arrangement. Social workers would meet with the family at a local library every couple of years to evaluate the Bryant kids.
“It was just kind of bizarre,” Monteiro said, referring to the teens’ decision not to take the test.
The spokeswoman said after Thursday’s standoff, DSS sent the Waltham District Court notice that the agency would continue to deal with the Bryants as is – monitoring them only. This despite threats from Etscovitz.
Monteiro explained that Etscovitz’s words to the Bryants last week – that “we have legal custody of the children and we will do with them as we see fit” – were taken out of context by a local reporter. She says the social worker “learned a lesson” about making statements in the presence of media, and she insists Etscovitz also said at the time that the children would not be taken from the home.
“There is no reason to remove these kids,” Monteiro emphasized. “It’s an average family – they just happen to homeschool their kids.”
As WorldNetDaily reported, DSS officials contacted the Bryants Thursday evening to let them know there would be no court hearing on Friday, as the bureaucrats had assumed. According to Monteiro, the judge in the case was contacted late Thursday and indicated no hearing would be held.
Indeed, George Bryant Sr. says his family hasn’t heard from DSS since Thursday.
Bryant explained that his family “obeys all laws” and relies on the Massachusetts Constitution. He says no one involved in the controversy can show him how the family is violating the law.
He also contends no one can give him a definition of “legal custody” as it has been applied to his children. “Nobody can define it for us,” he said.
Like Monteiro, Bryant doesn’t believe he will lose his kids.
“It’s unlikely the judge would sign an order [for removal],” he said.
Bryant says he and his family have received support from “a broad network of home educators,” saying he has not received a single crank call from detractors.
The homeschooling dad appeared yesterday on MSNBC’s “Buchanan & Press” to discuss the latest events.
“I do not believe the state has an interest in the children. They are members of my family. [Their education] is my responsibility, not the state’s,” Bryant told host Pat Buchanan.
Host Bill Press confronted Bryant about the stress his children have experienced because of the battle with the government.
“It’s actually a wonderful education for them,” Bryant said. “A big part of their education is actually the study of the state constitution.”
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