CARROLLS WILL HOME-SCHOOL DISABLED SONS

CARROLLS WILL HOME-SCHOOL DISABLED SONS

Margo Rutledge Kissell Greene County Bureau

October 21, 1997

Dayton Daily News

Timothy and Kathleen Carroll, a Cedarville couple that was thrust into the public spotlight when five of their children died, has won the right to home-school two of their handicapped children.

The agreement, filed Monday in the Greene County Juvenile Court, specifies that Isaiah, 15, and Samuel, 9, may be home-schooled. The agreement comes after an earlier court ruling in which public schooling was ordered for Isaiah and Samuel because the family wasn't meeting their special education needs.

Isaiah's brain damage hampers his motor skills and speaking ability; Samuel has Down syndrome, a congenital mental deficiency that also has physical effects.

Home schooling of Isaiah and Samuel started Monday, said David Gordon, the Carrolls' attorney who works for the Home School Legal Defense Association in Purcellville, Va.

The Carrolls have fought to home-school their children since August 1995, citing religious reasons.

The couple was thrust into the spotlight between 1992 and 1993 when five of their 10 adopted, handicapped children died. They pleaded guilty in January 1993 to child neglect in one of the deaths.