The parents of a young girl complained to the Office of the Ombudsman about the Department of Education at the local authority under whose jurisdiction they resided. The complaint concerned the registration of their daughter to 9th Grade. The parents pointed out that their daughter had not been accepted to the ultra-orthodox girls' high school to which they had registered her, on the grounds of her failing the entrance exam, but according to them the real reason was ethnic discrimination.
After receiving the rejection, the parents contacted the Department of Education at the local authority. According to the parents, the local authority informed them that their daughter had been accepted to the school, and they therefore did not appeal the rejection. At a later stage, however, they received notification of the placement of their daughter in a different school, which they claimed did not match their worldview. The parents added that the said notification had been sent to them after the deadline for filing an appeal, and thus they had been denied the possibility of appealing the decision.
Upon receiving the complaint, it became evident to the Office of the Ombudsman that the girl had not been to school for a year and a half because of the refusal of her parents to accept the existing placement and their desire for an alternative one.
In light of the sensitivity of the matter, it was decided to handle the case through mediation.
At the mediation session, the parents expressed their anger at the rejection of their daughter from the desired school and their pain over her being at home and not enjoying the experience of studying at the school with her friends.
Educational sources within the local authority explained to the parents the criteria for acceptance to the school of their choice, and the Head of the Department of Education pointed out that the department did not intervene in the school's pedagogical discretion. The educational sources within the authority also pointed out to the parents that the gap that their daughter would have to bridge in her education - which existed anyway due to her learning difficulties - was widening as a result of her not attending school.
At the joint mediation session and at the private meetings that were held with the parties, various options were raised, such as finding a suitable educational framework for the young girl outside her city of residence and registering her for a lower grade level to enable her to bridge the gap in her education. Ways for encouraging the girl to return to school willingly were also proposed.
Following the handling of the matter by the Office of the Ombudsman, the parents were prompted to take more active measures for finding an educational framework for their daughter. Indeed, with the assistance of representatives from the Department of Education at the local authority, a school outside the girl's city of residence that matched the family's worldview was found, and the girl was placed there to her and her parents' satisfaction.