I'm speechless...
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4727161/
It depends on the nature of the custody agreement. If the mother had sole custody, she can determine how to school the children unilaterally. However, if she had a joint custody agreement, she cannot withdraw the children fron school without the father's permission. Sounds like that is what happened. Mom can't do what ever she wants, even if Jesus told her to.
This not an issue of home schooling vs public schooling. It is not an issue of government yanking children out of a home school situation and making them go to a public school instead. As PE stated, this seems to be a parental rights issue. It appears that the children had been in public school before. The article is rather short and missing many of the pertinent details if we, as readers, are to make any real sense of the matter.
The journalist writing the story has sensationalized by depicting the judge as being heavy handed. Divorces frequently involve issues about the children. Unfortunately at times one parent or the other goes out of their way to make trouble for their their ex-mate. That could be the case here; we just do not know. In any event, IMO, it is not proper for outsiders to get involved. It is an issue to be decided by both parents if they are sharing custody or parental rights. In many cases the courts must step in to enforce one or the other parents rights.
There is the matter of the law.
How much of a story would this have been if the judge was ordering the children to be home schooled? Or would that have simply caused an different segment of the population to be outraged?
I have been through a divorce with a child involved---thank god it was pretty amiable and My ex and I never had any child rearing conflicts. However, many do and many others use their children as weapons/excuses to continue their wars. IMO parents who cannot separate their animosities from their children and end up in court get what they (not their children) deserve. Judges may try hard but they are very poor substitutes for two caring parents, divorced or not. You can't abdicate your responsibilities to a court and then cry "victim" when you don't like the results.
Having said all that----the judge in this case appears to be "nuts"!
Article with more case details...
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/594313.html (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/594313.html)