How free are the Waldorf schools in the southwest? Some parents think that no state rules should apply there against Corona - and if necessary go to court. The schools now want to react more clearly.
Rottweil (dpa / lsw) - The dispute over state corona protection measures has led to more conflicts with parents at the Waldorf schools in the south-west. "This has increased in the last two years," said the executive director of the state working group (LAG) of the free Waldorf schools, Christoph Sander, in Rottweil. "Pretty much every one of the 58 schools in the country was affected."
Some parents "interpreted the concept of free schools, which are often run by clubs and thus by the parents themselves, very broadly," said Sander. "But that is a misinterpretation. Sometimes there was an attempt to abuse the freedom of design." In several cases, therefore, either schools or parents terminated the contracts for teaching the students.
At a Göppingen Waldorf school, the parents of two girls even went to court after the institution had terminated their school contracts. The parents had previously threatened teachers and school management because they believed they were committing “crimes against humanity” by implementing the corona measures.
Both the Ulm Regional Court and the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court rejected the parents' urgent applications against the dismissals. This means that the two students will no longer be taught at the Waldorf school in the new school year. However, you can continue to argue for it in court in a main trial.
This court case is an isolated case, said LAG board member Sander. But there were always differences with parents in the schools during the pandemic. "It was a new learning field for us," said Sander. "It has never happened to me before that parents have said, please ignore the fire safety regulations and unscrew the smoke detectors."
For the coming school year, he expects the Waldorf schools to "act faster and more consistently" in such cases, emphasized Sander. "We will no longer have as many discussions as to whether wearing a mask makes sense or not." Many parents who protested are either no longer at the schools or have come to terms with the rules.
Incidentally, most of the students would have done that quite quickly, emphasized Sander. "Most of the students saw the need for many of these measures across the board. Maybe some parents should talk to their children and ask how it was really for them. Then we might have a more relaxed mood."
According to the state working group, around 23,500 students are taught at the 58 Waldorf schools in the state. According to the State Statistical Office, almost 1.1 million students attended general schools in the south-west in the last school year.
