A New Hampshire court has ordered a mother to cease homeschooling her 10-year-old daughter and put her into a public school. Although Brenda Voydatch has homeschooled Amanda since she was in first grade, Voydatch’s ex-husband, Martin Kurowski, believed she should be sent to public school. Since the parents were unable to agree, the court appointed a mediator to evaluate Amanda’s current learning environment and make a recommendation.

According to the court report, the mediator found that Amanda was excelling in her schooling, using curriculum that was approved by her school district, and routinely taking standardized tests. She was also taking art, Spanish, and P.E. classes at her local public school, where the instructors said she was well-rounded in her social skills. The mediator was concerned, however, by Amanda’s faith:

The court order stated: “According to the guardian ad litem’s further report and testimony, the counselor found Amanda to lack some youthful characteristics. She appeared to reflect her mother’s rigidity on questions of faith.” The guardian noted that during a counseling session, Amanda tried to witness to the counselor and appeared “visibly upset” when the counselor purposefully did not pay attention.
 
The guardian also noted that Amanda’s relationship with her father suffered because she did not think he loved her as much as he said he did due to the fact that he refused to “adopt her religious beliefs.”
 
According to the court order, the guardian concluded that Amanda’s “interests, and particularly her intellectual and emotional development, would be best served by exposure to a public school setting in which she would be challenged to solve problems presented by a group learning situation and…Amanda would be best served by exposure to different points of view at a time in her life when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief and behavior.”

Furthermore the court order states that despite Amanda’s mother insisting that her daughter’s religious beliefs were her own, “it would be remarkable if a ten-year-old child who spends her school time with her mother and the vast majority of all her other time with her mother would seriously consider adopting any other religious point of view.”

Alliance Defense Fund-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons said the ruling is troubling because the court based its decision on Amanda’s faith rather than the quality of her education: “Every time you have a court order that uses a wrong standard or misapplies constitutional law, everyone’s rights are eventually at stake.”