Basisschool Prinses Juliana
“Pay up or no report” threat was a “communication error”
A primary school in the Brussels municipality of Etterbeek that had threatened to withhold school reports from pupils whose parents had outstanding school bills has now had a change of heart. The primary school section of the Flemish-Dutch Prinses Julianaschool, a school that is popular with Dutch expats and follows the International Primary Curriculum, now concedes that the threat made in a newsletter sent to parents was inappropriate.
Not only was it inappropriate, but it was also illegal as the law clearly states that schools are not allowed to withhold reports or diplomas. Recently parents of pupils at the Flemish-Dutch Prinses Julianaschool in Etterbeek were shocked to read in the school’s newsletter "In the case of your school bill not having been paid on time the school can decided to provisionally withhold certificates and/or diplomas”.
The school’s Head Oskar Kraut says that this was a communication error. "We first enter into dialogue. We send a bill, a reminder and we call the parents”.
“This should have been in the newsletter and it isn’t the case that we withhold reports and certificates. It was wrong and it is not correct. In no way do we wish to put parents under pressure. I apologize for this”.
School bills
Nevertheless, the school’s Head that he expects school bills to be paid. "We do indeed have a lot of outstanding bills and this is not because parents can’t pay. People forget or don’t read their emails and letters properly."
“Everyone pays eventually. At a meeting we thought about linking the invoices to reports, but that was just an idea. This accidentally ended up into the the newsletter”
“Every child should receive a report and should not be the victim of their parents’ non-payment."
