We've actually been able to help a couple of families get actual permission
to homeschool, as a 2005 law in this state now provides for people who are in
Germany "temporarily" (defined as up to two years, generally, but that's not
actually part of the law) to receive exemption from compulsory school
attendance. The stated purpose of this law is so that children can continue to
be educated in the system to which they are accustomed, so as to easily
re-integrate back into this system when they leave Germany. But we're trying to
help some friends at the moment with no success. My husband is actually on the
telephone with the father at the moment, and I talked with him earlier today and
have his permission to write any and all details here. (He was even fine with me
using their names, but I won't.)
So here's the story: this family, father "W", mother "S", and seven-year-old
girl "J" moved to Germany a year and a half ago for W to teach in an
International School, with a two-year contract. J has been attending the
International School, which didn't thrill the parents, but they didn't think
they had any other options. As they became less and less happy with the school,
and also found out that they would be leaving Germany at the end of the two
years (actually in slightly less than two years), they decided to take J out
after Christmas and homeschool her, partly for financial reasons (although the
father teaches at the school, they still have to pay part), partly because they
weren't happy with the social influences, partly because they wanted to
homeschool anyway for all the usual reasons, and partly in preparation for
leaving Germany. But first, they met with the school principal and explained
this. His initial reaction was "No problem--that will free up her space for an
actual paying student!" They were told they could use the school library,
receive curriculum suggestions, and basically be supported. Without those
statements, they would NOT have taken J out of school!
But that is what they were told, so after Christmas vacation, J did not
return to school, and the same week, W and S sent a letter to the Local
Education Authorities, requesting exemption from compulsory school attendance
based on Paragraph 34 (5) a). In the meantime, various people at the school
started telling W that what they were doing was illegal, etc., that they would
set the law on them, and so on, and the principal also took back everything he'd
said.
About a month later they got a letter back from the LEA saying that as J is
not sick, no, she can not be educated at home! They included a photocopy of part
of the law, highlighting the regulations for sick students--obviously, nothing
to do with this family. So W and S sent an objection, of course. Then they got a
letter telling them to immediately register J in school, listing four possible
schools and emphasizing that of course, they are free to choose any school, as
free choice is valued. To that W and S responded that J IS registered in school,
as the International School was still collecting her tuition and keeping her
space open, refusing to consider her as no longer a student. The next letter
from the LEA was to instigate truancy procedings--something that can only happen
when a school contacts the LEA for that purpose. And yesterday they got a letter
threating fines. They're going to put J back in school on Monday and the mother
and daughter will be leaving the country as soon as possible, probably in early
May.
In the meantime, there has still been NO answer to the objection that the
parents sent, and they could theoretically still be fined for the weeks that
their daughter was "truant". Obviously, the work atmosphere for W is something
less than pleasant at this point. And when he spoke with someone at the LEA
today, she accidentally let slip that they "wouldn't have done anything at all,
but had no choice, because the International School was so insistant."
We had an interesting chat in the car with the children today about what
"free country" means...Germany may think it is one, but this U.S. citizen begs
to differ.
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