Tag Archives: ZZ: In the Matter of Kurowski and Kurowski (Voydatch)

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on the Rich Buhler Show to discuss this: NH Supreme Court sidesteps critical religious liberty issue in homeschooler case. | MP3 audio 14:00 mins

Yahoo News: “According to the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), allied with the mother’s attorney, the New Hampshire’s Supreme Court has previously stated that American home education is a tradition and a right.”

The New American: While home school advocates were concerned the case might set a precedent for other courts to force home schooled children to attend public school, Joseph Infranco, senior counsel for ADF, predicted that because the state court limited its decision to the facts in the case, the ruling could not be used “as a battering-ram against religious liberty or home schooling — and ADF will be vigilant to make sure that it’s not.”

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on the George Rice Show to discuss this: NH Supreme Court sidesteps critical religious liberty issue in homeschooler case. | MP3 audio 11:31 mins

Baptist Press: Joseph Infranco, senior counsel for ADF, said, “Although we strongly disagree with the court’s decision for this family and do not believe the trial court should have considered religion as it did, we appreciate that the Supreme Court limited its decision to the facts of this case. This decision cannot be used as a battering-ram against religious liberty or homeschooling, and ADF will be vigilant to make sure that it’s not.”

BeliefNet: “The lower court held the Christian faith of this mother and daughter against them,” said Simmons, who is affiliated with the conservative Alliance Defense Fund. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court bypassed this issue and wrote this off as a `parent versus parent’ issue without recognizing the very real underlying threat to religious liberty.”

One News Now: “Although we were disappointed with the outcome, we think at least the [New Hampshire] Supreme Court got the message and did not say anything in the decision in any way that would harm either home schooling or the religious considerations of a parent in schooling their children,” he explains. “So I think in a sense, although it was a loss, at least the court recognized the dangers and avoided those.” Infranco adds that “this decision cannot be used as a battering-ram against religious liberty or home schooling — and ADF will be vigilant to make sure that it’s not.”

LifeSiteNews: “Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children,” responded Simmons. “Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it was doing.”
“The lower court held the Christian faith of this mother and daughter against them,” Simmons said. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court bypassed this issue and wrote this off as a ‘parent versus parent’ issue without recognizing the very real underlying threat to religious liberty.” Nevertheless, ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco said that the law firm appreciates the Supreme Court’s choice to limit “its decision to the facts of this case,” which should ensure that the decision “cannot be used as a battering-ram against religious liberty or homeschooling.” The “ADF will be vigilant to make sure that it’s not,” he concluded.

Christian Post: John Anthony Simmons, the Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney in the case, expressed appreciation that the Supreme Court “limited its decision to the facts of this case.” . . . “Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children. Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it was doing,” he said. “The lower court held the Christian faith of this mother and daughter against them. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court bypassed this issue and wrote this off as a ‘parent versus parent’ issue without recognizing the very real underlying threat to religious liberty.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Alliance Defense Fund issued a press release on the decision.”

“And the decision strikes me as constitutionally troublesome, whether implemented in broken families or in intact families.”

World Net Daily: Lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund, who had argued in the case that the clear religious bias against Christianity expressed by a guardian ad litem and adopted by the court was reason to reverse the decision, said the justices ignored the evidence. “Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children,” said allied attorney John Anthony Simmons in a statement released by the organization. “Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. “That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it was doing,” Simmons said. “The lower court held the Christian faith of this mother and daughter against them. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court ignored this issue and wrote this off as a ‘parent versus parent’ issue without recognizing the very real underlying threat to religious liberty.”

“The New Hampshire Supreme Court says a lower court acted appropriately in ordering an 11-year-old girl to attend public school after her father claimed his ex-wife’s strict Christian teachings were socially isolating the child.”

The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a lower court order Wednesday that forced a homeschooled student into a government-run school against her mother’s wishes. The court made clear that it was not addressing larger religious liberty and homeschooling concerns and was basing its ruling only on the narrow and specific facts of the case.

HSLDA: “While Alliance Defense Fund Attorney John Anthony Simmons is representing Mrs. Voydatch, HSLDA has been consulting with the ADF and its attorneys to ensure that the liberty of all homeschoolers is protected.”

Fox News / Live Shots: “Like many parents who home-school, Voydatch believes in the importance of teaching the basics of reading and writing. But she also believes in the importance of a religious education . . . ‘The judge,’ explained Simmons, ‘said that Amanda reflected her mother’s rigidity in matters of Faith, and that because of that rigidity she needed to be ordered into government run schools.’”

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show (1.6.2011) to discuss this: NH Supreme Court to hear arguments in case of home-schooled girl Thursday. | MP3 audio 17 mins

Regions.ru (Google translation from Russian): “The fundamental right of parents – to choose education for their children,” – said John Anthony Simmons, a lawyer associated with the Christian human rights organization «Alliance Defense Fund». – “The court has no right to send children to public school just because she thinks that her religious beliefs should be diluted by others. A lower court had done just that.

OneNewsNow: “Voydatch’s attorney, John Anthony Simmons, an allied attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, says the court modified the child’s school placement at the request of the father. ‘And the rationale that it used was that the child [and the mother] had religious beliefs . . . that were abhorrent to the father and that essentially were too narrow,’ says Simmons, ‘and that those opinions needed to be corrected . . .’”

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0RjeyRlxRA&feature=youtube_gdata

Religion Clause: “The New Hampshire Supreme Court last week heard oral arguments (video of full arguments) in a divorce case that has gained national attention through the publicity given to it by groups that see it as an important religious freedom test.”

Andrew Cohen writing at Politics Daily: “Unfolding Thursday in Concord, N.H., was yet another chapter in the sad story of a family involved in a high-conflict divorce. It is the frustrating example of two parents fighting one another for control of their child’s education. And it is a compelling lesson about home schooling and public education, religion and the role of the courts, in determining a child’s course of learning . . . The judge had applied the wrong legal standard, the ADF attorneys argued, and the guardian was biased against Brenda and Amanda because of their deeply held religious beliefs.”

CBN: “The New Hampshire Supreme Court is considering whether it should force the 11-year-old daughter of a divorced couple to attend public school . . . ‘The (lower) court went beyond the disagreement between the parents and offered the opinion that the child was being raised with rigid religious views and had not had the opportunity to be exposed to other points of view to challenge these views,’ ADF attorney [Joseph Infranco] said.” | Article includes a short CBN News video report that excerpts a phone interview with Infranco.

WorldNetDaily: “The Supreme Court in New Hampshire today was asked to reverse a lower court decision that ordered a homeschooled student who was ‘well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level’ into a public school because she was too ‘vigorous’ in defense of her Christian faith. ‘Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children,’ said John Anthony Simmons, an attorney allied with the Alliance Defense Fund.”

ADF attorney Joe Infranco writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “A home school case being argued in the New Hampshire Supreme Court Jan. 6 is a window into the kind of subtle bias against Christianity that permeates our modern institutions. Only, in this case it’s not even subtle. The reasoning of a lower court is a jolting revelation of how Biblical Christian values may be publicly marginalized.”

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on AFR Focal Point with Bryan Fischer to discuss the NH Homeschool case. | MP3 audio 11:09 mins

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on the Vicki McKenna Show to discuss the Mt. Soledad veteran’s memorial ruling and the NH homeschooling case. | MP3 audio 19:16 mins

Charisma: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) allied attorney John Anthony Simmons will argue before the high court on behalf of the girl’s mother, who is objecting to the judge’s order on appeal.”

Christian Post: “Over 2 million children are being homeschooled in the United States, a new study finds . . . The New Hampshire Supreme Court is set to hear a custody case on Thursday involving a homeschooled girl that was ordered by a state judge to enter public school after a guardian ad litem testified that the girl vigorously defended her Christians beliefs . . . ‘Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children,’ said John Anthony Simmons, an Alliance Defense Fund-allied attorney representing the girl’s mother.” | ADF News Release

Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney John Anthony Simmons and ADF Senior Counsel Tom Marcelle will be available for media interviews following oral argument Thursday before the New Hampshire Supreme Court in the case of a home-schooled girl ordered into a government school by a state judge.

HSLDA: “Home School Legal Defense Association has filed a friend of the court brief in a New Hampshire custody case that threatened to establish a rule that could be harmful to homeschoolers. In a case that has made headlines across the country, a trial court ordered a homeschooled girl into public school based in large part on non-expert testimony of the guardian ad litem (GAL) assigned to the case. The GAL’s testimony implied that homeschooling could not meet the future social and academic needs of all adolescents, not only the child in this case—even though the court acknowledged that she was excelling both academically and socially while being homeschooled . . . ”

HSLDA Amicus: In the Matter of Kurowski, No. 09-0751 (N.H.)

Homeschooling Research Notes: “Since [Kurowski] is a custody-related case, it, like the In re Rachel L. case in California, was at first not on the radar screen of the leading homeschooling watchdog groups. It is now. For a little over a month the story was unknown in the homeschooling world. But on August 24 an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative Christian legal organization Voydatch had contacted for support, issued to the New Hampshire court a motion for reconsideration. Two days later the ADF issued a news release on the case. By the next day the story had been picked up by onenewsnow.com, and it quickly spread around the internet, abetted especially by a post on August 28 on WorldNetDaily.”

Littleton Homeschooling Examiner: “Alliance Defense Fund attorney, John Anthony Simmons, representing the homeschooling mother has stated that ‘Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it is doing in this case, and that’s where our concern lies.’”

FOX News: “‘It ordered her out of the home schooling she loves so that her religious views will be challenged at a government school. That’s where the court went too far,’ John Simmons, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney representing Voydatch, said in a news release.”

Christian Post: “‘Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it is doing in this case, and that’s where our concern lies,’ said Alliance Defense Fund- allied attorney John Anthony Simmons of Hampton.”

Christian Post: “‘Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it is doing in this case, and that’s where our concern lies,’ said Alliance Defense Fund-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons of Hampton.”

Christian Examiner: “An Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney representing the mother stated that he is concerned when a court treads on the parents’ right to make ‘sound choices’ for their children. ‘Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it is doing in this case, and that’s where our concern lies,’ said ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons of Hampton.”

WorldNetDaily: “‘Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it is doing in this case, and that’s where our concern lies,’ ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons said in a statement.”

“The New Hampshire Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a 10-year-old home-schooled New Hampshire girl ordered into a government-run school.”

Blackstone Legal Fellow Nathan Fox has written an article in the Federalist Society’s State Court Docket Watch (Fall 2009) that begins (citations omitted):

In a case that is of great consequence to education law, as well as to religious liberties issues more broadly, a New Hampshire state court judge recently removed a girl from home schooling by order. On June 14, 2009, Judge Lucinda Sadler of the Laconia Family Division ordered a ten-yearold girl out of religious home schooling and into public school against the wishes of her mother. In The Matter of Martin Kurowski and Brenda (Kurowski) Voydatch, “the parties reserved for the court the issue of whether Amanda would attend public school for the 2009-2010 school year, or continue to be home schooled by Ms. Voydatch.” The portion of the case discussing the background and decision of the judge ordering Amanda Voydatch into public school is summarized below . . .

Related ADF Media Information Page: NH court orders home-schooled child into government-run school