A Buffalo woman who lost custody of her children for educational neglect spoke out at Thursday’s Buffalo Common Council Education Committee meeting.
The district reported Kiarre Harris to Child Protective Services after extended absences from school. Harris says the district failed to notify schools of her children’s homeschooling arrangement. Now her kids are in foster care.
“What are the next steps, and who is going to be held accountable, and who is going to step up to the plate and admit that they made an error so that my children can be returned to me? I have not seen my children in over a month,” Harris said. “I was supposed to have a visit with them yesterday but it was terminated.”
The discussion was tabled until further details could be discussed in private. Harris arranged a phone call with Interim Associate Superintendent for Student Support Services Eric Rosser.
“We, as a public school district, are very supportive of homeschooling parents. I will be meeting with Ms. Harris, hopefully within the next couple days, to really talk about—getting more of what her experience has been as a homeschooling parent and see what ways we can support her,” Rosser said.
At the meeting, Rosser detailed some of the services available to parents who choose to homeschool their children.
“It was a very nice presentation that you made with all the services and support that’s offered for homeschool parents. I would like to state that I was never offered any of that. I was never offered any of those services or invited to any of those meetings,” Harris told Rosser.
