Outcomes - Selected Case Summaries
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Ministry of Education school admittance policy
Investigation | 17 April 2023
Department of Education Services
A concerned parent contacted the Ombudsman with a complaint concerning an application to place her minor child in a public school for the beginning of the school year. The parent was told by both the Ministry of Education (“the Ministry”) and the Department of Education Services (“DES”) that the government entities could not approve the placement in the school year she wished, due to the age of the child. The child, who had completed the previous school year at a private school had a birthday that fell after September 1 of the upcoming year and it was noted that the school would have to start the child in the year she had just completed in the private school. It was also noted later that the school did not have the space to accommodate the child. The parent filed a complaint with the Ombudsman after going through the DES’s internal complaints process.
The Ombudsman’s office sought to resolve the issue informally through the DES and noted that there were some issues of administrative policy connected to the complaint which may require further investigation. The complainant remained unsatisfied with the results of the informal resolution process and we moved ahead with a formal investigation.
The findings of the investigation were as follows:
- The DES and the Ministry appropriately followed the immigration-related requirement for entry into the public school system in this case. However, it was noted that there were instances where the public schools’ guidelines on age-related placement were not followed. Failure to adhere to established policy can amount to maladministration. However, in this matter the Ombudsman found there was not maladministration, as the school placement standards may require some flexibility, particularly in relation to finding #2 below.
- There was a lack of established, written policy concerning specific age requirements for public school children. Further, it was found that there was a lack of policy for gifted and talented students in the public school system that could lead to administrative unfairness in decision-making by the Ministry and the DES regarding the placement of children.
- It was found that the DES did not unreasonably delay the minor child’s application to attend public school.
The complaint was therefore supported in part and not supported in part. The Ombudsman made the following recommendations at the end of the investigation:
- that the DES produce and approve a policy for gifted & talented students which should include the factors for consideration by the DES for recommending a child bypass a grade or grades, as the case may be.
- that if the year-by-year age policy is to be adopted by the DES/Ministry of Education, it must be inserted in the National Education Policy and made available to the public.
Later in the year, the Ombudsman issued a final closing letter to the government entities involved after all recommendations had been addressed.