Parents are critical of time-off campaign
PARENTS HAVE condemned an “insulting” campaign which urged them to make sure their children attend school every day and do not take time off, including for minor illnesses like coughs and colds.
Thousands of people have signed a petition against East Sussex County Council’s tough new attendance drive, which warns parents they will be fined if their child misses lessons without permission.
The campaign features slogans such as “Get a Grip” and “Don’t be a Mug”, and is running on radio, bus stops and social media. It has faced a backlash from parents, with a petition arguing it is “aggressive, condescending, insulting, inappropriate for the purpose and will probably prove to be counter-productive”.
The change.org petition, which has attracted about 6,500 signatures so far, calls on the council to withdraw the campaign and apologise.
A spokeswoman for the council acknowledged that the move has been controversial, but said that school attendance levels in the area were not good enough. The petition says a leaflet distributed to schoolchildren who had missed at least three days in the first half term was “frankly offensive”. A council spokeswoman said: “We appreciate this campaign has been controversial in some quarters but we won’t flinch from addressing this extremely serious issue. School attendance levels in East Sussex are simply not good enough.
“The campaign we have been running is not aimed at parents of children who have genuine medical reasons for being absent.”