NO HOME-SCHOOLING FOR 2 DISABLED BOYS, JUDGE TELLS FAMILY

NO HOME-SCHOOLING FOR 2 DISABLED BOYS, JUDGE TELLS FAMILY

August 10, 1995

Janice Haidet

Dayton Daily News

A Greene County judge has denied the request of Kathleen and Timothy Carroll of Cedarville to home-school two disabled children, Isaiah, who turns 13 next week, and Samuel, 7.

Those children were returned to the Carroll home in February after spending nearly two years in foster care. The Carrolls regained full custody in May. The youths had been taken away from the Carrolls after four mysterious deaths among the couple's 10 adopted children.

Mrs. Carroll's lawyer, John H. Rion, said he intends to ask the Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals to overturn the decision of Visiting Judge Richard T. Cole.

In the decision, which Rion received Wednesday, Cole said, ``These two children, due to their special needs, can receive the specialized help they need in their education more readily in the public school system than in schooling at home.''

Isaiah has cerebral-palsy type brain damage that prevents him from walking or talking.

Samuel has Down syndrome, which affects his coordination and his ability to learn.

``If these children were children without the special problems facing them, the Carrolls would have the constitutional and statutory right to home-school them as they are doing with Hosea,'' Cole said.

Hosea, 12, also had been removed from the Carroll home for a time. He has no apparent disabilities, but was said to have mental problems at the time that he began living with the Carrolls in 1984.

Cole's decision came after testimony given at a July 7 hearing in Greene County Juvenile Court.

Mrs. Carroll said that although the judge said his decision was made with the best interests of the children in mind, the decision actually denies the constitutional rights of their children.

``They're entitled to the best education they can get, and we don't think that's in the public schools,'' Mrs. Carroll said.

Greene County Assistant Prosecutor Suzanne Schmidt, who has handled the case on behalf of the county Children Services Board, was unavailable for comment.