The best policy is no policy.

That was the unanimous opinion offered last week by about two dozen parents of home-schooled children during a meeting with Bethel Park School District officials.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," said Anne Cook, who has spent 17 years home schooling her five children in Bethel Park.

The meeting was held to address concerns of parents over a proposed policy on home schooling that would, among other things, limit the number of classes home-schooled students could take at the high school to two and stop the practice of giving school district diplomas to students who were home schooled.

Bethel Park isn't the only district recently to create a policy on home schooling. Peters Township School District approved one in June, and Plum approved another this fall. Other districts such as Northgate and Mt. Lebanon also have policies on home schooling.

Although Bethel Park parents were upset with the proposed policy, they repeatedly commended the district for its accommodation of home-schooled students up to now.

The groups said they would like the district's handling of home- schooled students to continue on an individual basis, with no set limits or policies on how much access the students can have to the district's classes and activities.

"The reason we are here is not because we are mad, but because we appreciate what Bethel Park has done for us in the past, and we want it to continue," said Jim Means, who said he and his wife, Sue, were the first parents to approach the district about home schooling.

Idessa Hricisak, director of special education for Bethel Park, explained to parents that district administrators and the school board felt a policy was needed to create consistency throughout the district in the way home-schooled students are handled and to ensure their entitlement from the districts.

In drafting the proposed policy, Hricisak said administrators looked at policies recently adopted by other districts and got input from the state Department of Education.

Finding the right fit

The quest for consistency was the same reason Peters Township school board enacted a home-school policy in June. "It was set because we needed to have guidelines in place so that the home-schooled students and their parents were treated fairly across the board. We needed to have consistency and to treat all groups fairly," district spokeswoman Cara Zanella said.

In Peters, where there are 35 home-schooled students, there was no outcry when the policy was proposed.

But Bethel Park has a higher number of home-schooled students ? 63 of them from 48 families. Some of those families moved to Bethel Park specifically because of its flexibility in allowing access to district resources and activities.

Les and Angie Logsdon said that when they moved to the Pittsburgh area from Indiana, Pa., three years ago, they chose Bethel Park because they were told it was the best district in which to home school children.

Since they moved here, Angie Logsdon, a former elementary teacher, has home schooled their children, who are now in sixth and ninth grades, and plans to send her daughter to 10th grade at Bethel Park High School next year.

Les Logsdon told Hricisak and Assistant Superintendent Michael Latusek that he believed the proposed policy "looks like a step backwards in trust between us."

Parents at the meetings said they objected to the district's limiting the number of classes home-schooled students can take at Bethel Park High School to two per semester. Latusek said that number was chosen because the majority of home-school students who take classes at the high school enroll in two or less.

But parents at the Bethel Park meeting pointed to a home-schooled high school student in the audience who is taking five classes at the high school and is completing five classes in her home-school course.

Hricisak said that state Education Department officials told her that half of all districts don't allow home-schooled students to take any classes in district schools. The home-school policy in Northgate does not allow home-schooled students to enroll or participate in any academic or special course or activity, such as band or chorus, for which grades or any other type of assessments are issued by teachers.

The Peters policy limits classes to two but allows more with the approval of the superintendent if there are special circumstances, Zanella said.

Graduation and diplomas

Parents also objected to the policy's provision that students from the class of 2007 and beyond would not receive diplomas from the Bethel Park School District and would not be permitted to participate in district graduation ceremonies.

The parents pointed out that students need high school diplomas to enter the military and to receive financial aid for college through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.

But the Peters, Northgate, Plum and Mt. Lebanon policies all state that students must attend the district fulltime for the last two years of their education and earn at least half of their high school credits as full-time students to earn a diploma.

The Bethel Park parents also objected to a provision in the proposed policy that said students could not be home schooled for just one class. Several parents explained situations in which their children had been home schooled for the elementary grades then entered the high school but found situations where it was better to home school for a particular class.

Bethel Park parents also objected to wording in the policy that would require home-schooled students to submit written requests to be involved in extracurricular activities. The policy says that decisions on those requests will depend upon several factors, including eligibility requirements, the number of participants and the impact on the total program.

Parents at the meeting said they believed their children should get the same opportunity as full-time students to participate in activities. Melba Dibble said she particularly objected to the phrase "impact on the total program."

"So you mean if my son is the star quarterback, you will take him, and if he's just an average Joe, you don't need him?" Dibble asked.

Hricisak and Latusek said they would take the parents' comments back to the school board for further discussion before any action is taken on the proposed policy.

First Published: November 12, 2003, 5:00 a.m.