Vol. 472 No. 3
178 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education the steps, if any, her Department is taking to investigate allegations in relation to the recommendation of a local school that a pupil (details supplied) in County Dublin should seek an alternative school in view of the fact that the pupil and parents in question have, in their view, been dealt with unsympathetically. [23180/96]
I am aware of the case referred to by the Deputy. The pupil in question was excluded from school before the end of the last school year, and in September the parents sought my assistance in resolving difficulties between the family and the school with a view to having the child in question readmitted to the school.
Matters in relation to school discipline and the selection and enrolment of pupils are matters for individual school authorities. My Department, through its guidelines on school discipline, lays considerable stress on the use of suspensions and expulsions only as a last resort. Where parents are dissatisfied with disciplinary decisions, it is open to them to appeal the decision to the board of management of the school involved. Following consultations with the school and the parents, I understand that this procedure was followed in this case and that the parents met with, and made representations to, the board on 10 October. However, the earlier decision to exclude the girl was upheld by the board. The procedures followed by the school in this case are now being considered further by my Department in the light of the representations made by the parents and the Deputy.
My Department is now endeavouring, through a process of consultation by its inspectorate with school management, to have the pupil in question placed in an alternative school in her locality.
