NOTE:  Before reading the following, it is recommended that you read the
State of North Carolina Home School Information Packet.

Home School Record Review Meetings
Historical Perspective and Purpose

        A North Carolina state government agency has conducted statewide on site visits to conventional non-public schools for over forty years.  Soon after home instruction of children was first legalized as an acceptable educational practice in North Carolina (resulting from the May, 1985 Delconte Case), the NC Division of Non-Public Education (DNPE) began on site visits to this new type of non-public school.  The official legal recognition of home schools was later established by statute in 1988.  Today’s home school statutes define a home school as a non-public school.  The maintenance of certain types of records are required of all non-public schools and are to be kept at the school office.  DNPE officials are authorized by statute to go to each non-public school’s office and inspect these records annually.  See G.S. 115C-553, 561 and 563(b).

        After a few initial years of door to door home school visits statewide, on site visitation become expensive and time consuming, due to the growing number of schools.  As a result, a series of Home School Record Review Meetings were initiated.  DNPE representatives were then able to meet individually with about 12-14 home school families per day (instead of about six).  It worked quite well for the next several years.  During the 92-93 school year, 1,625 families met individually with a DNPE staff representative at meeting sites in 38 cities across North Carolina.  Later, the concept of the Home School Inspection by Mail Program was introduced which continues today.  This program invites home school administrators (of schools which have been continuously listed with DNPE for at least the past two school years) to voluntarily participate.  In the early 1990s, DNPE's staff was reduced because of state government budget cuts which resulted in the Home School Record Review Meetings being discontinued.

        At the recommendation of DNPE and because of the increased number of complaints about home schools in recent years, the 2005 General Assembly restored funding for that former position.  It was re-established to help increase the division's visibility in the home school community -- primarily, by re-starting the Home School Record Review Meetings.

        This new staff member is responsible for all the logistics of organizing and conducting the Record Review Meetings.  The site is first reserved; then, home school administrators with nearby mailing addresses (and whose schools are currently in their second consecutive year of operation) are randomly chosen; then, invitation letters are prepared and mailed.  The first of these newly revived Record Review Meetings were held in early November, 2006.  Fourteen families had been invited.  By the end of that first Record Review Meetings day, ten families came to meet individually with the DNPE representative.  Some families were initially apprehensive about the meeting, but found the DNPE representative to be professional, courteous, and efficient.  Meetings are usually planned for about two weeks within each month from November through May.

        The purpose and goals of these meetings are:

1.  To review school records as required by statute;
2.  To answer any questions or receive any comments the school
      administrator may have about the home school statutes (or
      other home school related topics), DNPE's operational
      philosophy and procedures, etc.;
3.  To explain and encourage voluntary participation in the Home
      School Inspection by Mail program beginning the following
      school year;
4.  To meet home school families and lay a foundation of mutual
      trust, understanding and cooperation between North Carolina's
      home school community and DNPE.

        It should also be emphasized that NO profiling whatsoever of schools, their staff or students have been, or ever will be, done or noted -- whether in a conventional non-public school environment or in a home school record review or home school on site visit setting.  DNPE understands that since record review meetings have not been held for over 10 years, they are now a new experience for most current home school families and will initially cause a sense of uneasiness or distrust.  However, the DNPE staff will do its very best to help allay any concerns, anxiety, etc. about these meetings.

        For over 40 years, the division has continued each year to meet frequently with administrators, teachers and students when visiting conventional non-public schools.  The framers of the original 1979 legislation (today’s Parts 1 and 2 of the non-public school statutes) laid, in effect, the legal framework for the Delconte court decision which six years later officially legalized home schools.  Today’s home school statutes reference, and are tied to, these two parts.  Those framers, by their choice of statutory wording, envisioned DNPE continuing to regularly meet face to face with non-public school administrators, teachers and students.  For more than 20 years, DNPE has endeavored to follow that same procedure and tradition in dealing with North Carolina’s home school community.  Such periodic face to face meetings with home school administrators/teachers and students in brief, informal settings have greatly enhanced the division’s expertise and credibility in handling questions about home school matters from legislators, the news media and the general public.  Over these years, home school administrators' openness and cooperative spirit with DNPE have resulted in a wider acceptance and better factual understanding of home school educational activities by the general public.  That, in turn, has helped to preserve the freedom to operate home schools in North Carolina.

FAQ Visits/Meetings Page

12/07