Richard Martwick's Legacy on Illinois Homeschooling (1988)

Richard Martwick's Legacy on Illinois Homeschooling

Richard Martwick served as Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education from 1970 until 1994 when his office was removed making Martwick the very last Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. Today, Chicago has somewhat different school laws because Chicago alone has no Regional Office of Education (ROE) and has the Chicago Board of Education instead.

Martwick, during his tenure, convinced many of Chicago's homeschool families to register so he could provide them with extra services. He did provide extra services at first, convincing others to register as well. He then sent out truant officers to intimidate, harass, and take to court every one of those families that registered. Many were forced into full time public school enrollment.

This has happened in other ROEs as well and this is why Illinois HOUSE has long urged families to not register as we view it as being overly compliant.

Interested in more information on this? Here is some of the background story: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-03-09-8804050885-story.html