School vs grandma’s funeral: a tough choice had to be made when one family was told that their son attending his grandmother’s funeral in South Africa would result in an “unauthorized” absence.
Now, the family is looking at $145 in fines from the Stoke-on-Trent City Council for their 9-year-old son’s absences between June 27th and July 4th at St Matthew’s CE Academy.
Carol and David Follows were stunned to receive the fines.
Carol Follows mored to the UK from South Africa 19 years ago, but her mother still resided there. When her mother died unexpectedly, Carol needed time to travel back to South Africa to sort out her mother’s funeral and estate.
Carol and David had originally informed the school that they would be away from June 20th through July 8th. This is when the school staff informed them that their son’s long absence would be considered “unauthorized” after 5 days.
“It was obviously going to take us longer than five days to sort out the estate,” Carol says about the school’s rule. Even still, the family changed their plans to minimize their son’s absence and were only away from June 27th through July 4th. Their son, Logan, returned to school on July 5th.
According to Carol, the family “followed the correct protocol and sent a letter.” They knew that any days past the first five would be considered unauthorized, but the school was informed ahead of time.
Carol says that she finds the fine so unacceptable because they could not make an exception for the situation. “If I had just gone on holiday, then I would have paid the fine, but I was taking my son to bury his grandmother.”
The $145 fine was issued on August 14th and could go as high as $1212 if left unpaid.
The family is able to challenge the fine with the headteacher, who is able to withdraw the fine if it has not been issued in accordance with the local code of conduct, or if it should not have been issued. Unfortunately for Carol and David, school does not return for the next academic year until September 3rd, which means they are unable to challenge the fine until then.
If the fine is not withdrawn and left unpaid, the family could be liable to prosecution.
