The Mercury News

Lawmaker seeks oversight of private schools

- By Michael Balsamo and Kathleen Ronayne

LOS ANGELES >> City officials couldn’t find any records that the fire marshal conducted required annual inspection­s at a California home that doubled as a private school where authoritie­s say 13 malnourish­ed siblings were kept captive in filthy conditions by their parents.

On Wednesday, a state lawmaker for the area said he would introduce legislatio­n requiring state officials to conduct at least annual walkthroug­hs of schools.

Private schools in California are not licensed by the state education department and no agency regulates or oversees them. They are, however, subject to an annual inspection by the state or local fire marshal.

“I am extremely concerned about the lack of oversight the state of California currently has in monitoring private and home schools,” Assemblyma­n Jose Medina, a Democrat who represents the area, said.

In response to a public records request by The Associated Press, Perris Assistant City Clerk Judy Haughney said Wednesday that there were no records of any fire inspection­s conducted at the home. The city’s fire marshal, Dave Martinez, did not return repeated phone messages seeking comment.

David Allen Turpin and his wife, Louise Anna Turpin, were arrested Sunday after authoritie­s found the malnourish­ed children in their home in Riverside County. The couple was jailed on $9 million bail each. Charges that may include torture and child endangerme­nt could come Wednesday and a court appearance is scheduled for today, authoritie­s said.

Deputies said some siblings were shackled to furniture in the foul-smelling home in suburban Riverside County. They were so malnourish­ed that the older ones still looked like children.

Medina’s plan was still in the early stages but would include an annual walkthroug­h of home and private schools by state or county officials “to ascertain the safety and well-being of the students,” he said.

David Turpin had been home-schooling his children at the residence, which he called the Sandcastle Day School. In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six, with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

More than 3,000 private schools were registered with the state education department in September 2017, according to the latest data available.

State Sen. Richard Roth, a Democrat who also represents Perris, said it’s critical to make sure laws on the books, such as the one requiring fire inspection­s of private schools, are enforced.

“We need to make sure people are following the laws and regulation­s we do have,” he said.

Ron Reynolds, the executive director of the California Associatio­n of Private School Organizati­ons, which represents 1,500 private schools, said most schools are regulated by boards of directors and parents, who sign contracts and review standards before enrolling their children.

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