Shortly before the start of the school year, the complainant received notification that the kindergarten that her daughter had attended in the previous two years was refusing to accept her for the coming year. The local authority within whose jurisdiction the complainant resided, proposed placing the child in a different kindergarten, but the complainant rejected this suggestion, arguing that it was important to preserve educational continuity and avoid making unnecessary moves and social and environmental changes that would be hard on her daughter.
The kindergarten had refused to accept the child on the grounds that the complainant had not complied with the rules of the kindergarten, had not picked her daughter up on time and had not fulfilled her obligation to pay full tuition fees.
The school year had thus begun with the child at home, with no educational framework and no solution in sight.
In her complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman, the complainant expressed dissatisfaction with the local authority's conduct and with the fact that her daughter had been left without any educational framework. According to her, she had complied with the rules of the kindergarten. With regard to tuition fees, she claimed that she was not prepared to pay for the months during which her daughter had not attended kindergarten.
Under these circumstances, it was decided to refer the complaint to the mediation team within the Office of the Ombudsman. The team, which comprises staff members of the Office who have received training and gained considerable experience in conducting mediations, quickly arranged a joint mediation session for finding a solution that was in the best interests of the child.
The mediation session generated open and respectful discourse between the parties, which led to a renewal of the agreement between the complainant, the kindergarten's management and the local authority. The parties agreed on the sum of the debt, which had been open to dispute, and the complainant undertook to settle her past debts. An arrangement for paying the present year's tuition fees was also agreed upon and the complainant promised to pick her daughter up from kindergarten on time.
Following the settlement that was reached to the satisfaction of all the parties, the complainant's daughter returned to the kindergarten.