The Board of Education shall ensure that children instructed at home are taught by a competent instructor and receive an education substantially equivalent to that offered in the district’s schools.
Parents/Guardians who wish to educate their children at home must submit to the district an individual home instruction plan (IHIP), outlining the educational goals to be met and the course materials and syllabi to be used each year for the child’s learning process. The district may accept or deny an IHIP. Parents/Guardians must submit quarterly reports which will provide the district with the necessary information to make determinations of substantial
equivalency and competency of instruction on an ongoing basis.
Parents/Guardians may appeal to the Board a determination by the Superintendent of Schools or designee that an IHIP is not in compliance with the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. Parents/Guardians shall have the right to appeal the final determination of the Board to the Commissioner of Education within 30 days of receipt of such determination.
Special Education
A student with an IHIP, who is a resident of the school district and has a disability, or is suspected of having a disability, is eligible to receive services from the school district, in accordance with law, regulation and district policy (4321 et. seq.). A parent/guardian must request special education services in writing to the Board by June 1 st , unless the child is first identified or moves into the district after June 1 st . In that case, the parent/guardian must request
the services within 30 days of being identified or of moving into the district.
Special education services will be provided on an equitable basis compared to programs and services provided to other students with disabilities attending public or nonpublic schools within the district. There is no requirement that the special education services be provided in the student’s home. The Board will determine the location where the special education services will be available to homeschooled students, which could include the site of the home school. The District shall conduct a census and register students with disabilities who reside in the district in accordance with the Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations.
Participation in Extracurricular Activities
Students instructed at home by their parents are not entitled to participate in interscholastic sports. Commissioner’s Regulations mandate that only students enrolled in the public school are allowed to participate in interscholastic sports. The District does not permit homeschooled
students to participate in any intramural sports, extracurricular activities, or other school-sponsored district activities, except as provided for community organizations in District Policy 1500, Public Use of School Facilities.
Instructional Materials
The Board does not permit the loaning of instructional materials to home-schooled students.
Homeschooled students are not entitled to receive Chromebooks or similar devices from the District.
HOMESCHOOLED STUDENTS 1741
Cross-ref: 4321, Programs for Students with Disabilities, et seq.
5420, Student Health Services
Ref: Education Law §§ 3204(2); 3210(2)(d); 3602-c (2-c)
Public Health Law § 2164 (as amended by Chapter 35 of the Laws of 2019)
8 NYCRR §§ 100.10; 135.1; 135.4
Appeal of Ponte, 41 EDR 174 (2001)
Matter of Abookire, 33 EDR 473 (1994)
State Education Department Memorandum, “New Requirements for the Provision of
Special Education Services to Home-Instructed (“Home-Schooled”) Students, July 2008
State Education Department Memorandum, “Home Instruction Questions and Answers, http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/homeinstruction/homeschoolingqanda.html, Sept. 2016
Adoption date: May 27, 2008
Revised: December 10, 2012
Reviewed: February 27, 2017
Revised: July 6, 2017
Revised: January 13, 2020
Revised: November 8, 2021