Change the Science Olympiad's Policy on Team Qualification and Homeschools

Dear Dr. Gerard J Putz,

I am writing to urge you to change the National Science Olympiad's Policy on team qualifications for Homeschoolers.   

I am sure you are aware of the rule that states, "Science Olympiad will recognize Home School Teams consisting only of students who live within the boundaries of two contiguous (side-by-side) geographic counties in a single state."

We feel this ruling unfairly affects the number of students that have the opportunity to participate in this wonderful activity.  The across the board restriction does not take into account the county size, state borders, population density, homeschool co-ops and coach availability and many other issues.  

Our county boarders another state, our co-op meets weekly at a location that is actually further from my house than it is from many students that come from across state lines.  As stated in the petition, there are some states with many very small counties that have a limited amount of homeschool students.  I could go on and on with examples about how difficult this ruling makes it for those of us who choose to homeschool our students to participate in Science Olympiad. 

As homeschoolers, it is difficult to find enough students with the time to take on an extracurricular activity such as Science Olympiad.  It is a sad situation when you have families who are willing to drive the extra distance to allow their kids to participate with a team, to only be told that they are not allowed.

I have coached Science Olympiad for 6 years.  I know the time and commitment it takes to coach it.  I also know how difficult it is to get parents to assist in coaching to say nothing of asking them to take on the responsibility of being a head coach. This ruling makes it very difficult for students that are not within a 2 county one state distance of an existing team to participate.  

We only want to be treated the same as other teams.  We don’t want preferential treatment.  To form a team requires constant support and monitoring and it takes a determined soul to accept the responsibility. Therefore, there are not a multitude of homeschool teams.  Public schools have teachers/coaches, facilities and funds to teach children. Many public schools are allowed to recruit students from several counties.  Private schools have the same benefits and are allowed to recruit students from all counties, states, countries and continents. Homeschoolers are a group of families, most with limited resources that only want the best for their children. They want them to learn beyond the textbook and test the application of this knowledge.  This ruling was established on the fear of homeschoolers building a "super team" but this ruling is preventing so many bright, wonderful students from experiencing the wonders of Science Olympiad.

As more and more people are considering homeschool as a legitimate alternative to traditional schooling, many highly intelligent students will not get to experience Science Olympiad with this restriction.   We should be searching ways to facilitate those willing to lead these students and encourage them to reach out and recruit.  

During my years of coaching I have been blessed to meet some amazing kids.  Each year, we are faced with the task of telling students (that meet at our co-op every week for a full day of learning)  they may stay and practice science olympiad with us but they may not compete at certain levels.  A Yahoo group science olympiad coaches has multiple comments from homeschool coaches that are forced to do the same. Many of the comments are from public and private school coaches that feel this is an unfair restriction on homeschoolers.  Please take a moment and view some of these conversations.  I am asking you to please reconsider this ruling and discuss its impact with other state directors when you meet at the National Competition.

We love Science Olympiad.  It has played a major role in my child’s education and I just want the same for others. I am asking you to please reconsider this ruling and discuss its impact with other state directors when you meet at the National Competition.

Below you will find the results of a petition that we recently ran.  You can see that there are people from all over the country that support changing the restrictions on homeschool teams.  

Thank you.  Kathy Watson