Education

Should home-schoolers participate in school clubs?

SUFFOLK TIMES FILE PHOTO | The Southold Board of Education is considering policies on what programs home-schooled students can participate in.

What programs should a school district offer to students who are home-schooled? That’s a debate members of the Southold Board of Education will be having since its policy committee decided against making any recommendation to the board on the issue.

Committee member Scott DeSimone said he thinks the full board needs to discuss what extra-curricular activities it wants to make available to home-schooled students. State law prohibits allowing home-schooled students to participate in inter-scholastic activities. But it has nothing to say about participation in clubs or other activities, board president Paulette Ofrias said.

“There’s just some blurred lines that have to be addressed,” board member Judi Fouchet said. Among them is what rules of behavior that apply to in-school students would be applied to home-schooled students, she said. For example, in-school students must maintain good grades.

Before moving forward with the discussion, she asked Superintendent David Gamberg to speak with his administrative team and offer the board some guidance.

He said he would do so and would look into practices in other school districts.

“It’s an area that’s a little bit out of our control, but we try to vet it,” he said of students who are home-schooled.