Tracy Oldfield

Got this from another list, absolutely shocking, and she's breastfeeding,
too. Grrrrrr!!!!!

Bws
Tracy

>
> From: Linda Dobson <ldobson@...>
>
> The following is an excerpt from the upcoming News Watch (11-12/99).
> However, I don't believe the news can wait until then. Please forward
> the
> story within the hsing community as you see fit. Thank you for any help
> you can provide.
>
> Linda
>
> VERMONT HOMESCHOOLING MOM JAILED
> (From a wide variety of Vermont newspapers and forwarded personal
> papers)
> The story begins so typically. Seventh-grader Trevor Maple was
> bored at school, displayed a short attention span, and read at a second
> grade level. Academic problems escalated into social problems. He even
> went
> to live with his grandparents to give another school system a try, but
> to
> no avail.
> While discussing Trevor's problems with his school's
> vice-principal, he advised Trevor's mom that homeschooling could be a
> perfect alternative. Considering her options, schedule, and abilities,
> just
> two and a half months into the school year, Karen Maples decided to
> become
> a homeschooling mom.
> Vermont's homeschooling requirements are neither easy nor
> difficult: submit a portfolio to the Board of Education or provide a
> Stanford Achievement Test score. Karen submitted a portfolio the first
> year, but for efficiency she switched to the standardized test the next
> year, and the year after. Trevor's score improved markedly, as did his
> self-confidence when he was in a learning environment that didn't call
> him
> "learning disabled." School officials deemed the test results suspect.
> Then one day, eighteen months after homeschooling began, the school
> called to ask if Trevor was absent because of illness. Karen thought
> this
> strange, but was assured it was a clerical mistake. This was before the
> school sent a letter to the state's attorney claiming that Trevor was a
> child in need of supervision.
> Enter several court appearances over two years, always with a
> public defender, always denied the ability to submit SAT scores into
> evidence. The state, in its all-powerful wisdom, decided Trevor needed a
> tutor.
> But the tutor quit after one lesson. Allegedly, the tutor told
> Karen she was asked to lie about the condition of Karen's home - and
> wouldn't. Because he had been labeled "learning disabled," the school
> demanded to evaluate Trevor's education. Karen refused.
> A social service employee followed Karen around the grocery store.
> Social service employees have been found banging on Karen's front door
> as
> she arrived home. The children now run upstairs to hide when strangers
> approach the house.
> To date Karen has had three public defenders, as has Trevor. She
> has seen three judges, one of whom, Judge Kupersmith, must hold a
> grudge.
> When Judge Cashman filled in for Kupersmith once this summer and read
> Karen's case, he said the entire matter should have been thrown out.
> While Judge Cashman had heard cases all day, Judge Kupersmith
> walked in to take care of Karen. Even though she had a "real" lawyer who
> was given 30 hours to prepare, Karen was arrested at this appearance,
> found
> in contempt of court for failure to bring Trevor to a juvenile court
> hearing on August 13. (Karen had informed the judge they wouldn't
> appear,
> at which time Kupersmith told her Trevor would be placed in permanent
> custory of Vermont Social and Rehabilitative Services. With this threat,
> Karen and family went into hiding until she appeared in court on
> September
> 1, 1999 - without Trevor.)
> Karen is such a horrid criminal bail is being denied, as is a
> breast pump for this nursing mother. Diane Wheeler, Franklin County
> deputy
> state's attorney acting as prosecutor, states, "Essentially, Ms. Maple
> holds the key to the cell door," meaning they don't intend to release
> her
> until she offers up custody of Trevor as her bail.
> A sorely needed defense fund has been established. Donations may be
> sent to Karen Maple Defense Fund, c/o Richard Gadbois, Esq., RFD,
> Franklin,
> VT 05447; 802-933-4514.
>
> Additionally, phone calls are requested to:
>
> Senator James Jeffords (R) 1-800-835-5500 vermont@...
>
> 30 Main St. Suite 350 Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 658-6001
>
> 58 State St. Montpelier, VT (802) 223-5273
>
> 2 South Main St. Rutland, VT 05701 (802) 773-3875
>
> OR
>
> Senator Patrick Leahy (D) 199 Main St. Burlington, VT 05401
> 1-800-642-3193
>
> 433 Russell Senate Office Building United States Senate Washington, DC
> 20510 (202)
> 224-4242 senator leahy@...
>
> Or Karen's state senators:
>
> Senator George T. Costes (R) (802) 524-4814
>
> OR
>
> Senator Sara B. Kittell (D) (802) 827-3274
>
> The following also need to hear from you in defense of Karen's
> constitutional rights:
>
> Tennyson Doane, Chair of the Bakersfield Elementary School Board
> (802)827-6168
>
> Kathleen Cushing, Social Rehabilitative Services, (802)527-7741
>
> James Hughes, State's Attorney, (802)524-7920 / fax: (802)524-7964
>
> Natalie Casco, VT Department of Education Home Study Consultant,
> (802)828-5406
>
> Mary Sherrer, Superintendent Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union
> (802)848-7661 / fax:
> (802)848-3531
>
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