- Parental guidelines not establishments for disclosing data regarding absent schoolchildren in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, there aren't any plans set for a unified, statewide policy on how schools should alert parents if their child skips school without a valid reason. Generally speaking, parents should be kept in the loop and guided on major school-related issues, as Minister Dorothee Feller (CDU) explained in response to an inquiry from the FDP. "This includes informing parents if students, especially younger ones, unexpectedly don't show up at school with no clear excuse," Feller stated. However, the specific method is left to the discretion of individual schools, with no plans from the state government to enforce more detailed procedures upon them.
The FDP's state parliamentary faction pointed out in their inquiry that there have been instances of children missing on their way to school, with parents only learning about it in the afternoon. This uncertainty not only affects parents but also teachers and classmates, argued FDP representatives Marcel Hafke and Franziska Müller-Rech. They suggested that a timelier communication from the school to the parents might have helped locate the child sooner and more safely if something happened.
Feller didn't have an answer to how many children have vanished on their way to school in NRW in recent years, as this would involve laborious manual research requiring a considerable amount of time and isn't readily available. However, she mentioned that an increased police presence on school routes can contribute to reducing potential hazards for children.
The FDP's proposal for improving school attendance monitoring includes suggesting that the Landtag, the parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, consider implementing a mandate for schools to notify parents more promptly if their child is absent without a valid reason. In such a scenario, schools would need to follow strict guidelines set by the Landtag to ensure timely communication with parents.
