Several parents in Manchester, England are planning to take the schools to court after their children were labeled as truant and fined for their absence. However, the schools have missed out on an important detail. Many of the students are suffering from mental health issues which resists them from coming to school.
Parents have contacted their lawyers to ask the court to review the rules regarding truancy. According to the parents, their children have been suffering from severe anxiety issues. Also, there are students that are suffering from other mental health issues like Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Such students have no support whatsoever after the government reduced the special education funds.
Parents all around have collected money from the crowdfunding platform CrowdJustice to issue a legal suit against the Department of Education. In just 2017-18, more than 780,000 students were labeled as persistent absentees (students absent for more than 25 days). Fines were issued to more than 260,000 of these students.
Schools not acknowledging mental health issues
An organization called ‘Not Fine in School’ works for parents facing similar issues with school authorities. In a statement by Beth Bodycote, founder of NFIS, she said that NFIS has currently more than 8000 parents on their facebook group with many members joining since September. There are more than 5000 posts in a single day. All have one thing in common- the school’s refusal to acknowledge mental health issues.
James Reid is a student who suffers from ASD and has also been diagnosed with ADHD. Despite not having any special education support from the school, James started secondary school. However, he has developed ‘school phobia’. He was fined with USD$77 (£60) and labeled as truant even when the parents confronted the school with the real issue. However, when James’ case was taken to court, the judge ruled in James’ favor.
However, there has been no response from the Department of Education’s side to the allegations. As a result, the parents have no other way than to take the department to the court.
