The Bnei Brak Municipality transported special education children in a bus unsuited to their needs
Parents from the town of Bnei Brak, whose children attend special education kindergartens, complained to the Office of the Ombudsman that the children were being transported to the kindergartens in a bus designed to carry at least 30 children, instead of in small vehicles designed to carry 7 children at the most, as in the past. They claimed that the use of buses was problematic for a number of reasons, including the following: the children frequently fell and got injured during the journey; due to the use of buses the journey was extended and took over an hour; the buses did not stop next to the homes, requiring the children to go by foot to and from the bus stop. The parents even related that on one occasion the escort let a child off the bus and left him unsupervised in the street, without the parents waiting for him at the bus stop.
In response to the Ombudsman's inquiry, the Bnei Brak Municipality affirmed that 35 special education kindergarten children were being transported by one bus, claiming that this was legal. The Ombudsman's investigation with the Ministry of Education disclosed that according to existing practice, children with disabilities are not transported by bus. However, the Bnei Brak Municipality refused to act in accordance with this practice on the grounds that it was not set down in the circular of the General Director of the Ministry of Education on the subject. In response, the Ministry of Education informed the Ombudsman that regulations relating to the transportation of children with disabilities were due to be published and that it would no longer be permitted to transport children with serious disabilities by bus.
Following the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman, representatives of the Ministry of Education met with the Mayor of Bnei Brak and it was decided that the Municipality would cease transporting the special education pupils in buses and would start using small transportation vehicles. The Ombudsman's follow-up disclosed that since the beginning of 2018, the Municipality has indeed been using small transportation vehicles, to the benefit of the children and the parents.
Ma'ale Adumim municipality refused to allow pupils to move to different school because of parents' debts
Parents who moved from Ma'ale Adumim to a different town in the middle of the school year requested to register their children at a school in the new town. The municipality asked them to provide a transfer approval from the Ma'ale Adumim Municipality but the latter made the issuing of the approval contingent on the parents paying their education debts.
Following the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman, and in light of the directives of a circular of the General Director of the Ministry of Education, the Ma'ale Adumim Municipality admitted that it was not authorized to make the issuing of the transfer approval conditional on the payment of debts to the Municipality. The Municipality consequently issued the requested approval for the children, unconditionally, thus enabling the complainants to register their children at the school in the new town.
Refusal of Na'amat to place toddler "at risk" in child-care facility
A single mother, living on benefits from the National Insurance Institute and in bankruptcy proceedings, asked to place her toddler daughter in a child-care facility of Na'amat (a movement for working and volunteering women), in order to be able to go out to work. The Na'amat administration refused to approve the placement of the child in the child-care facility on the grounds that the complainant owed Na'amat two months' payment for one of her other children. The refusal was made despite the fact that the family is known to the welfare authorities and the child is recognized as a "toddler at risk".
The Office of the Ombudsman requested the response of Na'amat, at the same time involving the Department of Preschool Daycare Centres in the Ministry of Welfare. Following the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Na'amat administration decided to place the child in the child-care facility despite the debt. In this way an educational framework, appropriate for the developmental needs of the toddler "at risk", was found.