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As public officials started to talk -- truly -- about the ways in which the system failed Kyneddi Miller, it became obvious that some of those failures took place in association with Kyneddi's family homeschooling her since at least February 2021.
Therefore, public officials understand it is time to look at whether changes in the homeschool rules might prevent another tragedy.
"The homeschooling issue, we probably need to find a way to tighten it," Gov. Jim Justice said earlier this month. "That's an area I'm sure we can make things a little better. ... I do believe that the actual following up on our homeschool kids is more of an issue than specific homeschool laws. But I think this is still somewhat in its infancy. We have to do more work with the Legislature."
Good.
Predictably, state Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, seized the opportunity to twist what was being said and get out in front of any efforts to improve the system. She has chosen to interpret such work as an attack on homeschooling, itself.
"It is wholly inappropriate and unacceptable to attribute this tragic death to homeschooling, which unfairly maligns the thousands of West Virginia families who are responsibly and effectively educating their children," Rucker wrote in an op-ed she must have had locked and loaded to respond to efforts to learn from Kyneddi's death.
No one is attributing Kyneddi's death to homeschooling. Rucker knows that. What intelligent public servants realize is that there need to be better measures in place for ensuring homeschool laws protect children -- and are followed. That might include stronger reporting requirements, and quicker response if homeschooling is suspected to be a means to cover up abuse. (Remember, Kyneddi's death comes after the death of 8-year-old Raylee Browning in 2018, after she was withdrawn from public school and contact with any mandated reporters.)
"In the public schools we have reporting requirements; we do not have reporting requirements in the homeschool system," Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, told WV MetroNews. "And we allow a system now, which I'd say has a clear loophole -- we allow for child abusers to take children out of the public school system where they are seen and heard and put them in the darkness of night without any monitoring, without any reporting requirements."
Deep down Rucker knows Fluharty is right. This isn't an attempt to undermine the homeschool system. It is an attempt to make it better and safer for kids. Homeschool families who follow the rules and are teaching their students outside the public school system because they truly believe it is what is best for their kids will have no problem with that.
If lawmakers don't ignore Rucker and improve the rules (and their enforcement) for homeschool families, they'll have to ask themselves: Who ARE they protecting?