Policy 8440

INSTRUCTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
8440 HOME INSTRUCTION (HOME SCHOOLING)


From time to time, parents will choose to instruct their children at home. The Spencerport Central School District will attempt to cooperate with parents who wish to provide home instruction for their children realizing that the child who is educated at home should receive an education in a manner consistent with an educational plan and at least substantially equivalent to that given to students of like age and attainments in the local public schools. The required subjects should be taught in a competent, systematic and sequential manner, specifically in relation to the required courses as enumerated in Commissioner's Regulation Section 100.10.

Provision of Services to Home-Instructed Students

Home-instructed students are not awarded a high school diploma. A high school diploma may only be awarded to a student enrolled in a registered secondary school who has completed all program requirements set by the Board of Regents, the school or the District.

a) Home-instructed students are not eligible 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 home-instructed students to participate in any extracurricular activities such as intramurals or school-sponsored clubs.
b) The District is not required to loan available textbooks and other materials (e.g., library materials, microscopes, computer software, eTextbooks, and movie projectors). However, the District may loan textbooks to home-instructed students upon request, if such books are surplus in district schools.
c) The District is not required to furnish health services.
d) The District is not responsible for providing remedial programs.
e) Home-instructed students may not participate in the instructional program of the District except for dual enrollment opportunities the District may make available under the "Dual Enrollment Law" and for special education programs and services the District is required to offer (exceptions are listed below).

The District is not authorized to provide Career and Technical (Occupational) or gifted educational programs to home-instructed students.

f) Solely for the purpose of Education Law Section 3602-c, home-instructed students with disabilities are deemed to be students enrolled in and attending a nonpublic school, which enables them to receive special education services, as well as to be included for computation of state aid for the education by the District.

The Committee on Special Education will develop an Individualized Education Services Program (IESP) for the student. The IESP will be developed in the same manner and with the same content as an individualized education program. The Board will determine a location where special education services will be provided to a home-instructed student. This location may, but is not required to be, in the student's home.
 
Further, the District shall conduct a census and register of students with disabilities who reside in the District in accordance with Education Law and Commissioner's Regulations.

g) Home-instructed students shall not be allowed to use school facilities except as provided for community organizations in Policy #3280 -- Use of School Facilities, Materials, and Equipment.

Primary responsibility for determining compliance with Commissioner's Regulations addressing home instruction rests with the Superintendent of Schools of the school district in which a home-instructed student resides.


Policy References:

Education Law Sections 3204, 3205, 
3210.2, 3212.2, 3240-42, 3602-c, and 4402
8 New York Code of Rules and Regulations (NYCRR)
Sections 100.10 and 200.2(a)



Adopted:  2/24/04
Revised:    9/6/22

Policy 8440