What happened
Botkyrka Municipality has decided to move two classes with 13 students in adapted compulsory school from Tullingebergsskolan to Björkhaga skola in Tumba. The move is to be carried out on 7 January, in the middle of the ongoing school year. Several guardians are protesting the decision and warning that the short notice harms children with intellectual disabilities. The municipality's goal is to gather expertise for the adapted compulsory school in one location, but education administration director Pernilla Sundström Fast regrets that the parents were not prepared in time.
Our analysis
Botkyrka Municipality and administration director Pernilla Sundström Fast justify the move by stating that expertise needs to be consolidated. However, the decision relocates 13 students with extensive support needs with only three months of effective notice. The reporting highlights how parents working in healthcare risk disruption to their daily lives, but fails to ask why the plans were kept secret since week 26 when the principal knew about them. The cost of the municipality's late notice is placed entirely on the students and their families. A meeting will be held on 14 October between guardians and Björkhaga skola, but the move date itself, 7 January, remains firm.
Explained
Adapted compulsory school is a form of schooling for children who are not judged likely to meet the knowledge requirements of mainstream compulsory school due to an intellectual disability.