Even as the nation's best minds meet daily at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel searching for solutions at the education summit there are no easy answers to a new controversy that threatens to shake the Catholic School management to its roots. Sure, it's not drawn in the broad themes of the Maria Roches pregnant single teacher matter, but slowly, the case of a teenaged girl being kept out of the classroom because she didn't want to sell soft drinks for the school is drawing attention.
Not wanting to sell soft drinks for the school? Not such a big deal you might say but this one strikes at the core question of whether a child can be forced to work for a school or if the parent has the right to refuse and beyond that, if the child has a right to education.
It's a difference of fundamental issues and it's caused a great divide between school management, a mom who's got her mind made up and the Ministry of Education. And as Keith Swift found out somewhere between all those jostling authorities, is a girl called Ash-Lynn just trying to be a normal standard five student. Here's her story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
At 3:30 hundreds of Holy Redeemer Primary School students filed out if their classrooms into the compound, but as she's been doing for the past two weeks, Ash-Lynn Young walked out of the principal's office to meet her mother at work. This standard five student hasn't been allowed to sit in class for the past two weeks. Why? You might not believe it, but it's all because Ash-Lynn's mother Sharon Flowers refuses to let her daughter sell soft drinks during recess. With her daughter of school and no resolution in sight, as you might expect this mother is outraged.
Sharon Flowers, Ash-Lynn's Mother
"My child has not been in classes, my child has been going to school every single day but has been held in the office so she has just been sitting in the office for two weeks with no class work"
As outrageous as it may sound, it is true since May 12th Ash-Lynn has not been allowed in class; so in effect she is going to school but she is not in school and that fact alone has the National Committee for Families and Children (NCFC) concerned.
Judith Alpuche, Executive Director NCFC
"From the NCFC's perspective certainly we are very concerned that a child of compulsory school age is out of school; she is basically being denied her right to an education. Whatever those issues may be, one that is very clear is that this little girl is not in school and that is definitely of concern to us."
And both the mother and the Catholic School's management agree that Ash-Lynn is being denied that right to an education over what is essentially a petty matter, her refusal to sell soft drinks for Holy Redeemer Primary School. Her mother says it is her right to decide whether or not her daughter peddles merchandise for the school.
Sharon Flowers,
"I think that is her break time and I want her to be a child; I don't want them to have her doing things that she doesn't want to be doing in school."
Keith Swift,
"Could there be a compromise? Have you tried dialoguing with the school?"
Sharon Flowers,
"Well when I went to speak to Mr. Clemente Wade I tried to do that and he said to me Ms. Flowers you are trying to run my school."
And 7NEWS also spoke to Clemente Wade who is the General Manager of Catholic Schools and his only comment was that certain conditions have been placed on Ash-Lynn and once they are fulfilled the matter will be resolved. And then there is the Ministry of Education which in this letter sent yesterday agreed with Ash-Lynn and her mother. In a carefully worded letter to Clemente Wade, Chief Education Officer Maud Williams called Holy Redeemer's action unacceptable. But the letter stopped short of an order and only requested Ash-Lyn's reinstatement.
And so by our count today was Ash-Lynn's tenth day out of class and her mother says it's taken a toll on this 13 year old.
Sharon Flowers,
"She has not been in class and emotionally it is taking a toll on her. She cries and she doesn't want to go to school but I think that if I keep her home I am contributing to the problem and they are going to say that I am the one that is not sending her to school and so every single day eventhough she is being held in the office she goes to school."
Keith Swift,
"But what does she do in school sitting in the office?"
Sharon Flowers,
"She doesn't get any classwork because she has been placed in the office and she just sits there until 11:30 and then she is sent home and then she gets back at 1 and then she sits there until 3:30 and then she is sent home."
Keith Swift,
"So she is in Standard 5 and has already lost out on two weeks of school. As a mother how concerned are you that this is affecting her education."
Sharon Flowers,
"She is a bright child and she is bright enough that she can pickup but that is not what is worrying me; they are having tests and they are doing new stuff that she hasn't covered as yet and I want to know how they are going to compensate her grade wise for not sitting those tests."
But perhaps the end of this story will come down to who will blink first: will Holy Redeemer allow Ash-Lynn back into to class if she doesn't want to sell soft drinks? or will Ash-Lynn's mother allow her daughter to sell? Either way the child watchdog group, NCFC, says it is unacceptable because both sides have forgotten one thing, one child, one student: Ash-Lynn.
Judith Alpuche,
"As best as I can surmise it is not about the issue of selling soft drink; it is about the philosophy that the parent holds and the philosophy that the school holds. So you know, I don't think from what I am seeing that they are much compatible and I think there can be middle ground but unfortunately they are not finding that middle ground and for us again one thing is crystal clear: a little girl is not in class."
And sadly if both sides stick to their positions, tomorrow will make the eleventh day that Ash-Lynn will not be in class.
Somewhat regrettably the matter has been complicated even further because Sharon Flowers has retained an attorney who has written the school management. With that Wade says that now the school's management has its hands tied and it has turned the matter over to its attorney.
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