District Attorney’s Office In Same County As Rogue Judge To Address Homeschooling And Truancy At Upcoming GOP Meeting
Image Credit: chestnutridgeacademy & tncourts.gov
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
District Attorney Craig Northcott will be addressing homeschooling and truancy issues at the Coffee County Republican Party’s August meeting on the 31st at 7:00 pm.
Earlier this month, General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Gerald Ewell, Jr. threatened to send a high school student away from her family and told her parents that they were not allowed to homeschool their daughter despite having legally enrolled in a Category IV non-public school, also known as a “homeschool umbrella.”
Amber Taylor’s daughter experienced a bullying incident at the school she attended in Coffee County. That incident resulted in her daughter’s temporary suspension from school as the victim of bullying. The school then marked her for unexcused absences which resulted in a truancy warrant.
Taylor believed the issue of her daughter’s mistaken truancy would be resolved in court. Instead, she left the courtroom trembling due to threats from Ewell, Jr. to put her daughter in the custody of the state if she did not return to the public school she had previously attended.
After truancy charges were not dropped – despite Senator Janice Bowling being assured that they would be – a second court date is now scheduled for September 5th, 2023, at 1:00 pm. There will be a peaceful rally in support of the Taylor family’s right to homeschool at the Coffee County General Sessions Court located at 300 Hillsboro Blvd, Manchester, TN 37355.
The Taylor family is not the first or only family to face Ewell, Jr.’s prejudice against homeschooling and his subsequent trampling of parental rights. The judge has a reputation for being biased against homeschoolers and homeschooling in general. Coffee County parents report that Ewell Jr.’s demeanor changes at the mere mention of homeschooling in his courtroom and families in favor of the legally recognized educational practice receive poor treatment if they have the misfortune to find themselves in his court.
Ewell Jr. has said to more than one family that “homeschool is no school.” He has also stated that homeschooled children will not be able to attend institutions of higher learning. He is wrong on both counts.
According to the most recent statistics compiled by the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), approximately 6% of children in the United States were homeschooled during the 2021-2022 school year. Parents that homeschool their children save taxpayers roughly $56 billion a year.
NHERI’s research over the years shows that homeschooled children typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public-school students on standardized tests. In addition, children educated at home have higher SAT and ACT scores and are actively recruited by colleges and universities.
Meanwhile, the school district that Judge Ewell, Jr. orders students back to has less than 40% proficiency in overall English Language Arts scores across all grades and less than 30% when it comes to math.
In Tennessee, parents are choosing to homeschool in greater numbers than the national average, with an estimated 13.2% of all school-age children being educated from home during the 2020-2021 school year, according to U.S. Census data.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
Time for this “judge” to go……….. Why has the Appeals Court or TN Supreme Court or the Judicial Watch organization not turned the heat up on this issue? Judges “apply” the Law, they do not have the right to make Law. It’s just this kind of heavy handed overreach that needs swift “justice” itself. In Hawkins County, TN we have a juvenile court judge who is now beginning to feel the effects of their malfeasance through the years in rulings, and the slow boat has finally arrived at the dock(et). Pun intended.
This judge just put me in jail yesterday evening and never told me that he was putting a warrant out for my arrest. He told Randall Robinson to file something against me but never told me what it was and then turned to finally address me in court and said you know if found guilty I could face up to 30 days in jail for each missed day. I now have court coming up in May for myself and the other court day for my children. This man does not deserve to be a judge he is rude and bias and makes his own rules. He did not look at me or let me speak on my childrens behalf since they were in schoo that day and no one explained to me that they had to attend that court date. I did not know a judge can put a warrant out for my arrest without even addressing the person about it in the court this is so unjust. I need to know what can I do because he is not a fair judge at all and he needs to lose his seat. Who can I contact for help? If anyone knows leave a comment
https://www.tncourts.gov/boards-commissions/court-judiciary/file-complaint
You can try Joe, but this hydra takes care of its own. Just like drug addict, whoring Judge Richard Baumgartner who ruled many cases high, bargained with criminals for sex and drugs for years and allegedly “nobody knew” including DA Randy Nichols.
I filed a formal complaint with the TN department of health against “Dr” Deborah Birx when she came to TN and prescribed medical devices for over 6 million Tennesseans right beside Lockdown Lee. She has no license to practice medicine in any state in this country, let alone Tennessee. She has never applied for a license, paid the fees or privilege taxes, no continuing education, never met with any “patients” she prescribed to. Several clear cut violations with documentation that would not be tolerated for your Tennessee doctor. I didn’t even bring her retarded advice into it that would more likely harm than help – just the illegal aspects.They claimed that their “legal” staff had reviewed the complaint and found no merit. So, this will work the same way: “confidential” so you cannot know how many complaints are made, and when the reviewers are corrupt, nothing is done. But anyone with the first hand witness evidence (or court recording) should submit a complaint. The DA doesn’t represent the people, any more than a county attorney does. Their “client” is only the government.
Judge Ewell has greatly overstepped, either by ignorance or bias…perhaps both. Homeschooling is both a constitutional right and also a proven method of education.* Without a leg to stand on, hopefully he will be forced to step down next election.
*”As far back as 1998, one study found that homeschool children’s median scores on standardized tests such as the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills landed in the 70th to 80th percentile. Similarly, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), students educated at home typically score 15 to 30 percentile points higher than public school students on standardized tests for academic achievement.”https://www.verywellfamily.com/how-does-homeschooling-compare-to-public-school-5075997