CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – West Virginia State Code regarding homeschooling shows that Kyneddi Miller, the 14-year-old from Boone County who was found dead in April in her home, was missing a required assessment before she died.
Kyneddi began virtual classes during the pandemic and remained homeschooled until her death this past April.
TIMELINE: Kyneddi Miller investigation
West Virginia State Code outlines that anyone who decides to homeschool their children must complete annual assessments, tracking academic progress. For specific grades third, fifth, eighth and 11th, those assessments must be submitted to the Board of Education.
The code is outlined under §18-8-1. Compulsory school attendance; exemptions section (C) says, “Annually, the person or persons providing home instruction shall obtain an academic assessment of the child for the previous school year in one of the following ways” and the code then outlines forms of assessment.
Section (E) says, “The parent or legal guardian shall submit to the county superintendent the results of the academic assessment of the child at grade levels three, five, eight, and 11, as applicable, by June 30 of the year in which the assessment was administered.”
The law later states that if parents and guardians do not complete annual assessments and submit required assessments to the board of education, the right to homeschool a child can be revoked for not meeting requirements.
Thanks for signing up!
Watch for us in your inbox.
Breaking News
SIGN UP NOW
if ( window.checkSizeClasses && window.checkSizeClasses instanceof Function) {
window.checkSizeClasses();
}
“The code makes it very clear that you have to do the assessment every year,” Dustin Lambert with the West Virginia Department of Education said. “If those assessments are not secured in those grade levels, then again, the code allows for the county may seek an order from the circuit court.”
Some lawmakers, including those who advocate for homeschooling, said that they blame the people working with the board of education rather than the written law itself, relating to the assessments not being completed in Kyneddi Miller’s educational history.
“This was a failure of the people, not the process. This was a failure of the board of education for not going after the parents to find out, or the mother, to find out ‘where is this child’s assessment?’” Del. Kathie Hess Crouse (R-Putnam) said.
Del. Crouse said she advocates for parents’ ability to homeschool their children, however, she believes Kyneddi Miller and the lack of accountability during her homeschooling was problematic and did not need to happen.
Governor Justice supports changes to child protection steps; more may be coming
“All they had to do was go to the judge and say ‘here’s what we don’t have, here’s what we should have. Please deny homeschooling at this point.’ Judge would have signed off on it, and it would have been done. So, it was a problem of the people not the process. The board of education did not follow policy, or the law. It’s not even policy, it’s the law,” said
Lambert with the Coordinator Office of Student Enrichment said there are roughly 26,000 homeschooled children across the state. He said there are many students across the state that do not meet the assessment requirement, similar to Kyenddi Miller’s case.
“Anecdotally is what I can tell you from conversations with the superintendent. We know that there is a high percentage of homeschooled students that reach that 3, 5 8 and 11 grade level that have not submitted the reports, and we know that because our county attendance directors are having to issue letters requesting those assessments for those students,” Lambert said. “So, just through informal conversations with county superintendents, county attendance directors, we know this is a huge challenge for attendance directors to secure these assessments.”
Del. Crouse said that she runs a homeschooling group on Facebook for statewide homeschoolers, and she receives numerous complaints about families not following the state code regarding education requirements.
She said she believes the Boone County Board of Education failed Kyneddi regarding her education and noticing the assessment was not done, though she said her death was separate and tragic.
“This was a problem of the mother and the grandparents. This should have never happened. This was a tragedy upon tragedy. This should never have happened with this young girl, and we already have laws on the book that says child abuse, child neglect, murder all of that is illegal. This mother and these grandparents let this child die,” Del. Crouse said.