A letter was sent to the istotne.pl editorial office and the Education Superintendent’s Office, in which one parent explained a situation that had occurred at a rural school near Bolesławiec.
“Perhaps the matter is trivial and does not require the intervention of the Education Superintendent’s Office, but as a parent I do not know enough about it and would rather seek advice from specialists. It concerns the division of the first-grade classes. At the school (…) there are more than 30 students in the first grade (…), so the students were divided into two groups, A and B. After the principal and teachers divided the groups, taking into account the number of boys and girls, (children – ed..) who commute and the level (of the children – ed.), several parents (mainly influential ones who work for the municipality or the police) asked (…) for (their children – ed.) to be transferred to another class, justifying (the change – ed.) by the children’s friendship.”
The bolding was added by the editorial office
After the changes were introduced, the two classes had different numbers of students. One had more than 20, while the other had fewer than 15. As the parent suggested, the larger class contained the “strong children.” This outraged the parents. The email stated that the school was not a: “Private fiefdom of municipal office employees who influenced the school management and transferred the children to another class.”
After the matter was reported by the portal, the school administration immediately responded. How? A parents’ meeting with mandatory attendance was called, at which the entire matter was explained.
The parents informed us that they approved of this.
“We have already had the meeting. The lists with the names have been returned to their original version. The parents are rather satisfied. The meeting was specific. We were informed that the school administration had acted in the children’s best interests. The school counselor also spoke.”
In smaller communities, it should be taken into account that children know and like one another. Therefore, some parents, wanting to make their children’s first days at school easier, try to ensure that their children are in the same class as a friend. This is a very common practice. It does not have to be connected either with the parent’s profession or position. It is possible that there were more such friendships at the school described than could be accommodated while creating two classes with equal numbers of boys and girls.
You can describe your experiences of sending your children to first grade in the comments. What, in your opinion, influenced the administration’s decision at the school described? Vote in the poll.