Keeping track of West Virginia home school students through their regular, required academic assessments has been a focal point of public policy debate following the death of Kyneddi Miller, a 14-year-old girl found on the bathroom floor, “emaciated to a skeletal state.”
Investigators say Kyneddi had not attended school since late 2019 or 2020 and hadn’t been outside the house more than a couple of times in the last four years.
The girl’s family submitted homeschooling documentation in February 2021, with her mother writing “We think homeschooling is the best now with the COVID-19 in order to keep our family safe.”
Any school system contact after that is in doubt. In response to recent requests for homeschooling assessments, the Boone County school system has told reporters “no public records exist.” The chairwoman of the health committee in the House of Delegates asked in a memo if any academic assessments were submitted for Kyneddi Miller. County officials responded, “The answer to your inquiry is ‘No.’”
Over the past couple of months, questions have focused on whether state agencies could have provided stronger oversight to intervene for the girl’s wellbeing. A significant aspect of that concern is whether West Virginia’s guidelines surrounding homeschooling provide enough impetus for school systems to check in on homeschooling students or for families to respond.
The question is whether the requirement for some contact with the school system through the assessment could have been an entry point to know about the condition of a vulnerable student like Kyneddi. The public policy issue is also whether the law should be changed to mandate that school attendance officers follow up on with possible truancy charges if families don’t comply with assessment obligations.
Now, the state Department of Education has compiled data on how many families of students as required. The department indicates the figures it has compiled are the best data available, but for a range of reasons might not be perfect.
That said, only a quarter to a third of homeschooled students have the assessments submitted on their behalf, according to the state education department.
“It’s unacceptable, especially when you consider that these are requirements in state code,” state schools Superintendent Michele Blatt said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“It’s critical that we find a way to make sure that if families are homeschooling that the requirements are being met, and what are some better ways that we can work with legislators and the governor’s office to determine what is a better way to do this — because this one apparently not working well.”
From the 2020 to current academic year, West Virginia had 32,873 students actively homeschooling. Of those, 7,774 students had academic assessments submitted. That shows almost 24% of homeschool students had assessments submitted.
Broken down further, students are supposed to have the required assessments submitted on their behalf in grades 3,5, 8 and 11. There were 17,111 students in those grade levels who were actively homeschooling during the most recent four years. Of those, 6,341 students had the assessments submitted. That’s a 37% compliance rate.
HOPPY KERCHEVAL: Data show most required homeschool assessments are not completed.
“They’re very important because when you think about these assessments, you’re wanting to make sure that all of our students are staying on track or at least to the best of their ability meeting the standards,” Blatt said.
“And when you think about the statements that even though the family has the option, a lot of times those students return back to our school system — so it’s important that we have these benchmark measures for if those students would decide to return back to the school system that they’re moving and progressing at a similar rate to the other students we have.”
Gov. Jim Justice and his administration have suggested that officials should tighten the requirement for school systems to check in on homeschooled students to ensure participation in the assessment requirements.
Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, has expressed urgency to examine whether state policies require enough follow-through to ensure the wellbeing of children who leave local schools for an education in their own homes.
And Delegate Amy Summers, chairwoman of the House Committee on Health and Human Resources, said on social media and in comments to MetroNews that homeschool statute needs to be reviewed to determine what are the next steps if assessments are not submitted.
But other legislators have characterized the ongoing debate as a broader attack on homeschooling, saying there were other failures that contributed to the death of Kyneddi Miller. Senator Patricia Rucker, chairwoman of the chamber’s school choice committee, earlier this month said leaders are “resorting to blame-shifting and scapegoating homeschooling laws rather than addressing the real causes.”
Delegate Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, this week advocating for school choice options, including homeschooling, during an appearance on “Dave Allen Today” on WCHS Radio. In the case of Kyneddi Miller, Crouse agreed the family should have had an eighth grade assessment submitted by mid-summer 2023.
“This young child was found emaciated and skeletal, April of 2024, so it had been 10 months that this assessment had been expected for this child that the school board did nothing to check to find out why it was not turned in,” Crouse said.
Someone should have checked on the girl because the law already says so, Crouse said.
“I think the laws are already in place,” she said. “This was a people problem, not a process and law problem. People in charge did not follow the laws that are already in place, and sometimes it’s not in the best interest of the Legislature to step in when the law’s already in place.”