CA - 13 victims, ages 2 to 29, shackled in home by parents, Perris, 15 Jan 2018 #10

[mrsobrien]

I think that what the media was confused about is that there are fire inspections for Small Family Daycare Homes and Large Family Daycare Homes. Some people who file Private School Affidavits could possibly also register their home as for example a Small Family Daycare Home theoretically so that a fire inspection would be required perhaps. There is also something called a Heritage School in California. I do not think that Heritage Schools are allowed to be in homes, but are also on the CDE web page. These are also usually private schools, but are not full time.

I've never heard of a private school in a home requiring a fire inspection. Also for fires, I don't recall any private schools catching fire, but there was a Large Family Daycare home near an elementary school that caught fire and burned to the ground in Dublin CA a few years ago in spite of up to date fire inspections. For those that are familiar with Dublin CA, this is the town with the infamous steep water slide that the child fell off of a few months ago that was broadcast around the world.

The bottom line is that regardless of whether the fire inspector passes a facility or Cal OSHA passes something like a water slide as safe, a lot of times, there is no close inspection but just a quick look and then the facility gets the green light to open.

I'm interested to know for sure whether the Turpins were required to get an inspection. I don't think so, but the codes are confusing! I wonder if I unknowingly broke the law back when I registered as a private school, lol.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I think it would be a good idea to require that all preschool children have regular medical checkups, but that is an entirely different matter. We already have compulsory education laws in place. Homeschool parents need to comply with the law, just like all parents do. Homeschool children need to be afforded the same protection that public school children are. That would include being tested to make sure that they are receiving their legally required education, and basic health screening, the same as public school children receive.

In the public schools in California, standardized testing is not required because of the opt out clause. Any parent can opt out of the STAR (now called Common Core) SBAC testing if their child is enrolled in public school. Also they can opt out of the vision/hearing screening that they do every few years. Students routinely opt out of standardized testing. One District with a high opt out rate is Palo Alto Unified. Here is an article on the issue -https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2017/06/13/school-district-grapples-with-high-opt-out-rates-on-state-exam

The testing done in public schools is voluntary and parents can opt out each time.

 

[human]

Oh, I am so sorry that they asked such personal questions. Unfortunately, some animal rescue organizations do ask very private questions and do searches within the house. Unfortunately for some rescue organizations, it has been so invasive that vet offices have received so many complaints that they no longer post flyers for these organizations on their bulletin boards.

I don't think I would be comfortable with some government agency coming in to inspect my house. It is bad enough when building inspectors have to come over to final building permits for renovations.

I will say homeschooling or not that the conditions of many public schools in California are very bad. Some do not have working bathrooms etc. and the way schools are managed in California are such that you just can't call the local government to complain. I have seen cockroaches running around in classrooms in public schools in California, non working water fountains, etc. It is so bad that the ACLU sued the schools and the resolution was that there is something called a Williams Act complaint process in California. One of the reasons to do this is to enable parents to report emergency or urgent facility conditions that pose a threat to the health and safety of students.

Some schools have rat infestations on campus, leaking roofs, fire hazards, etc. and even with this Williams Act process, conditions are not improved in some public schools in California. Some students spend all day in portable classrooms with poor heating/air conditioning. Even with the Williams Act and mandated reporting, substandard conditions remain in public school facilities and abuse of kids continue to happen on school grounds.

I think that the Turpins would have been able to circumvent any regulation process put in place.

What in the heck is wrong with the taxpayers of Califonia to allow this! Worse than Third World Nations. Doesn’t California have one of the biggest economies in the world? I know people there live in their multimillion dollar homes. Lots of people. Just wow!

 

[mrsobrien]

What in the heck is wrong with the taxpayers of Califonia to allow this! Worse than Third World Nations. Doesn’t California have one of the biggest economies in the world? I know people there live in their multimillion dollar homes. Lots of people. Just wow!

You practically have to be a multimillionaire to afford a house here, lol.

The problem is so layered...I don't know the way out!

 

[human]

And I'd like public schools to be held accountable for the education of each student. In my opinion, they are not. Countless children slip through the cracks, academically and otherwise. We see it all the time.

I feel like we're getting OT here, as this thread is dedicated to the Turpin siblings. Imo, the "parents" abused the system. They're the vast minority though. All the HSing parents I know are extremely dedicated to their childrens' educations. Most choose a program referred to as an umbrella school, meaning they opt to partner with a public charter for support. These umbrella schools offer extracurricular opportunities, enrichment, credited classes, and the popular tests.

It depends then on what kind of parents one knows, I guess. The ones I knew in MN did not want their children associating with ungodly children and/ or children who are not white. They don’t want the dhildren exposed to the ungodly curriculum of public schools,

I wonder what made the Turpins ditch public school.

 

[human]

I agree with you, for what it's worth.

I am afraid that this is going to be one of those topics where we are all going to have to agree to disagree. I don't view my children as "possessions" but I 100% have a problem with too much government involvement. So much of that is so subjective anyway. What one person views as a safety concern is something that another person may not. When a situation like this comes up, we generally start looking closely at the situation and try to find a way in which we can cast blame. Homeschooling comes under scrutiny a lot when, in fact, as you said the majority of them are doing it "correctly" and providing wonderful educations for their children.

I still maintain that the only people at true fault here are the parents. (Although I have trouble believing that the grandparents didn't see *something* wrong when they were on their visit.) People who want to do such things will find ways in which to do it.

Safety concerns would be identified as they are for many child facilities. Working smoke detectors. Cords out of reach of children for either eloctrocution or strangling. Working fire extinguisher. Working toilets. Egress windows. So many square feet per each child. Food stored where rats and other creatures cannot get to it.

When I was at my school, I got a checkmark because I did not have the poison control center number posted. It was an 800 number and we could not call long distance on our telephone. Garbage cans covered. Refrkgerator set at the correct temp to keep food from spoiling.

It is not subjective

If someone is going to have a private,school as the Turpins did, then they need to meet safety standards and they need to be checked up on that. Private schools can apply for tax exempt status. I wonder if they did as well as writing off their living space and perhaps even their van as a transportaion vehicle for the school. Of course they would not have to write off food, toilet paper, soap, or cleaning supplies as I doubt they used much of them.

Licensing agencies have their list

 

[human]

In the public schools in California, standardized testing is not required because of the opt out clause. Any parent can opt out of the STAR (now called Common Core) SBAC testing if their child is enrolled in public school. Also they can opt out of the vision/hearing screening that they do every few years. Students routinely opt out of standardized testing. One District with a high opt out rate is Palo Alto Unified. Here is an article on the issue -https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2017/06/13/school-district-grapples-with-high-opt-out-rates-on-state-exam

The testing done in public schools is voluntary and parents can opt out each time.

Why would anyone opt out of vision and hearing screening?

 

[mrsobrien]

It depends then on what kind of parents one knows, I guess. The ones I knew in MN did not want their children associating with ungodly children and/ or children who are not white. They don’t want the dhildren exposed to the ungodly curriculum of public schools,

I wonder what made the Turpins ditch public school.

The extremely religious type that you've described are virtually unheard of in my parts, not far from the Turpins actually. I'm sure they're around, but a tiny minority. The homeschoolers I know (quite a few) do it because of our shoddy public school system (see previous posts), and/or their kids are semi/professional performers balancing careers and education.

 

[mrsobrien]

Safety concerns would be identified as they are for many child facilities. Working smoke detectors. Cords out of reach of children for either eloctrocution or strangling. Working fire extinguisher. Working toilets. Egress windows. So many square feet per each child. Food stored where rats and other creatures cannot get to it.

When I was at my school, I got a checkmark because I did not have the poison control center number posted. It was an 800 number and we could not call long distance on our telephone. Garbage cans covered. Refrkgerator set at the correct temp to keep food from spoiling.

It is not subjective

If someone is going to have a private,school as the Turpins did, then they need to meet safety standards and they need to be checked up on that. Private schools can apply for tax exempt status. I wonder if they did as well as writing off their living space and perhaps even their van as a transportaion vehicle for the school. Of course they would not have to write off food, toilet paper, soap, or cleaning supplies as I doubt they used much of them.

Licensing agencies have their list

This is the catch 22 that California itself created when homeschooling laws changed...ummm....20? Years ago. I'm guessing on that number. Traditional homeschooling was "outlawed" in what I believe to be a push to boost government funding of public schools as it is determined by attendance numbers. Families quickly learned of the private school loophole, and here we are.

Back in the day before the loophole was created, homeschooling was managed far differently. There were required curriculum, meetings, portfolios, etc. I'm not sure how religious sects did it, I assume they were completely off the grid.

Interestingly, the Turpins came from one very lax HSing state (TX, very little oversight) to California. I believe this contributed to their choice of location.

 

[mrsobrien]

Why would anyone opt out of vision and hearing screening?

Perhaps they have access to these via private insurance and prefer not to take away from instructional time.

Or- it's possible that you opt out because your school does not offer it at all. I opt out, in a legal paperwork sense, for this reason. There's no opting in. I also am required to fill out the reduced/free lunch form every year even though our school doesn't even offer a school lunch program. It's crazy!

 

[ElizabethAnne]

What in the heck is wrong with the taxpayers of Califonia to allow this! Worse than Third World Nations. Doesn’t California have one of the biggest economies in the world? I know people there live in their multimillion dollar homes. Lots of people. Just wow!

With population growth, the schools in California don't seem to build new schools to handle population growth, but many just plunk portables on school sites. These then attract rats. Here is a rat infestation report from Orange County CA which is in Southern California - http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/06/06/elementary-school-rats-infestation/

The state of teaching and the school facilities are both poor in California compared to what I experienced in the east coast and the midwest. There are probably a host of reasons for this, but the end result is that for safety reasons and other reasons, many people choose to remove their kids from public school, put them in charter schools or home school them. The level of frustration with parents includes districts with the highest priced homes in California such as the community of Palo Alto. There have been cover-ups of teachers abusing students, students sexually assaulting other students in bathrooms, etc. in Palo Alto even though it is supposed to be one of the 'best' districts in the state.

A lot of taxpayers in California are frustrated and a lot have to commute very long distances (sometimes 2 hours each way) to their jobs.

But for the Turpins, they went out of their way to project normalcy in spite of the horrors inside their house. Some FBI profilers use the term "icon intimidation" for criminals where because of someone's status and position, though the people in the neighborhood saw strange things, it is hard to reconcile strange behavior with the nice house the Turpins lived in when they moved to Perris. There the Turpins were living in one of the best houses on the street tricked out with the fancy model upgrades for their former model house, with numerous vehicles in the driveway.

If neighbors had seen kids marching in circles in the middle of the night in a run-down apartment block in a crime ridden part of town, maybe someone would have called CPS or the police. But instead the Turpins used their status to hide in plain site in a nice house in a brand new neighborhood of brand new houses.

 

[Confusion]

It depends then on what kind of parents one knows, I guess. The ones I knew in MN did not want their children associating with ungodly children and/ or children who are not white. They don’t want the dhildren exposed to the ungodly curriculum of public schools,

I wonder what made the Turpins ditch public school.

I live in Minnesota, and most that I know who home school do it because they're extremely protective of their children and don't want to send them off with strangers for most of the day, or their children need either different levels of learning or different methods than what the schools offer. One of my sons is a good example; when he was in 3rd grade, he came home frustrated one day (many days, but this one in particular) and asked me, "When are they going to teach me something I don't already know?" My other son came home one day in 9th grade and said, "I actually learned something in school today! Would you believe it was actually in math?"

They both wanted me to home school them for their entire education, but I thought they both needed more experience with socializing with peers. Of course, back then home schooling didn't have the support it has now (my older son is 40 and the younger 35.) If I had it to do over, I think I probably would home school them the entire time and find other ways for them to socialize. If I had 12-13 kids, I think I'd have to send some, or all, of them to public school because it would be too much trouble to teach all the different levels and still give each the help/supervision they might need - and I'd need at least part of the day to recoup some of my energy and sanity.

I'm in no way excusing the way this family was treated, but I'm sure I would be totally overwhelmed if I were responsible for a family that size. I don't consider that to be an excuse though; they could have stopped procreating any time, and forgone some of their (the parents) luxuries to feed the kids and hire some help if it was needed. I know several families with between 11 and 17 children (offspring, they weren't all children at the same time), and they are all well cared for, their houses are clean, the children are well loved and grew up with high moral standards and work ethics. The number of children weren't the problem with this family, the parents were. MOO

 

[human]

I wonder what kind of education a woman like Louise who dropped out of high school could offer. Maybe the father did math and physics with the one boy allowed to go to college.

Or maybe the kids were plopped down in front of computers and did school on a computer program.

The oldest boy learned something somehow and he had to do schoolwork while in college,

We see from other horrible abuse cases on here that one child is singled out to die so maybe the oldest boy was a golden child for some reason, He still was starving as evidenced by his potluck eating.

 

[Ruffian814]

The picture of them on the bull was taken at a popular bar in Texas. That's the backdrop that the bar/club uses.

Or, this picture may have been taken at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. It takes place annually for a month and always has a "bull riding" photo set up with a back drop. The Turpins lived in Ft. Worth. His company may have given the employees free tickets to the Rodeo. That's common here.

 

[rsd1200]

The father worked for Defense contractors. I imagine his computer skills were pretty darn good.

Its a fallacy, that we in the tech world, are fluent, in all areas of the IT world.

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[rsd1200]

Children have a RIGHT to an education. Children have a RIGHT not to be abused by their parents, and the Government has an obligation to make sure that these rights are not being violated. Homeschool parents must comply with the same education laws that everybody else does. It's amazing that some think that the government checking on the health and wellbeing of their children is an infringement on their rights. We are a country of laws and everybody needs to comply with the laws including education laws.

I dont think anyone has said, in a home school setting, that the rules the allowed the Ts to set up a school, in 10 minutes, without any oversite at all, are shocking, at best. Annual in home checks for everyone and anyone? Ludicrous.

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[rsd1200]

Even in my ultra-religious area (I live in the buckle of the Bible Belt), the majority of people who homeschool are those who are trying to provide their kids with an education that's better than what some of our poor school systems can offer. The super-religious types around here tend not to homeschool at all. They enroll their kids in private schools.

I can vouch for that.

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[KaaBoom]

You practically have to be a multimillionaire to afford a house here, lol.

The problem is so layered...I don't know the way out!

And the millionaires don't pay much in the way of property taxes, on those houses. So the state really is third world.

 

[KaaBoom]

Why would anyone opt out of vision and hearing screening?

Because it's an infringement on their rights.

 

[SATA]

The picture of them on the bull was taken at a popular bar in Texas. That's the backdrop that the bar/club uses.

Thanks for that information.
So they went to bars and restaurants, but did not drink alcohol?

I am not buying it. I posted a photo of LT drinking from a wine glass - admitted - there could be some other beverage in it, but hey, it´s a wine glass.