Governor's office sues family Ten weeks in the Caribbean despite denied dispensation
The Winterthur district court has sued a couple because, in their opinion, they wanted to override their daughter's denied dispensation. However, the district court clearly sees things differently.
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- The Winterthur district court has accused a couple of parents of trying to override the school board's refusal to grant their daughter a dispensation.
- The parents had traveled to relatives in the Caribbean for ten weeks, but had completely deregistered their daughters beforehand.
- On their return, however, there were problems when they re-enrolled their daughter at school.
- The judge delivered a clear verdict, agreeing with the defense across the board.
For the defense lawyer of a family from the Winterthur area, it is a "Kafkaesque judicial odyssey" that should be ended quickly. The district court then quickly and unambiguously ensures a clear verdict.
The course of the case is rather curious and convoluted: the Winterthur governor's office accuses a couple of parents of trying to overturn the dispensation granted to their daughter by the school authorities. The parents are to be fined 2,000 francs each. Because they contested the penalty orders, an assessment by the court became necessary.
As the NZZ writes, the parents had requested a dispensation from lessons for their two daughters from the primary school authorities in their municipality of residence in September 2022. The family wanted to travel to relatives in the Caribbean for longer than the two-week vacation.
This was not a problem for the younger daughter, but the school administration rejected the request for the older daughter, as an application had already been approved for her in 2017. It is common practice for only one such request to be approved during the entire school year.
Now the parents have reacted, withdrawing the approved request and completely deregistering both daughters from school from March 20, 2023 due to an extended stay abroad. The problem: according to the Ordinance to the Primary School Act, deregistration is only possible after an absence of at least twelve weeks. All right, thought the parents, and off they went to visit relatives in the Caribbean.
Winterthur governor's office gets involved
But now things are getting very strange: when the family travels back to Switzerland at the beginning of June for family reasons so that they can be absent for less than the required twelve weeks, the children are asked to re-enrol at school. Actually very exemplary, one would think. However, the school administration didn't think so at all and called in the Winterthur district administration.
It was clear to the Statthalteramt that a stay abroad of more than twelve weeks had never been planned and that the family reasons, the mother's circulatory collapse and the younger daughter's homesickness, were not sufficient for the return. The children were therefore absent from school for a total of ten weeks without being excused.
Parents behave in an exemplary manner
Of course, the defense lawyer sees things quite differently. Unforeseeable events can occur at any time and cause plans to change. The immediate registration of the children at school by the parents after their return was rather exemplary behavior.
The judge gave a clear verdict, she followed the defense across the board and fully acquitted the parents of the allegations made by the governor's office. In her opinion, the parents had not acted with the intention of circumventing the decision of the school authorities. The earlier return had also not been planned. So everything was actually unproblematic ...