Zoom Image
Andrea Buchholz, Director of the Free Village School Lübeck
Photo: Markus Scholz / dpa
The Freie Dorfschule Lübeck, which has come under criticism, is defending itself against accusations and the closure of the facility by the Ministry of Education. The facility has never violated the concept approved by the ministry in 2015, said headmistress Andrea Buchholz on Tuesday. She considered the revocation of the approval of the Free Village School to be a political decision. "We're going to take legal action against that," she said.
"From our point of view, the current ministry management is not interested in a pluralistic school world in Schleswig-Holstein," she said. This can be seen, among other things, in the fact that under the leadership of Minister Karin Prien, the establishment of independent schools is very difficult or even impossible, said Buchholz.
At the same time, she also acknowledged mistakes. The school acknowledged that the documentation of the different learning settings of the pupils had not been comprehensible to the authorities. "We want to change that," said Buchholz. The concept of the private school includes, among other things, digital learning and learning in extracurricular places.
The ministry had revoked the school's substitute school permit after significantly fewer than the 2023 students registered were present during unannounced inspections in February and March 55. In addition, only two teachers were present during the inspections, although according to the plan more educators should have been on duty.
Even if the revocation of the permit is effective immediately and the school is closed, there is a one-week deadline until school operations must be completely stopped, according to the ministry spokesman. This is intended, among other things, to prevent pupils from standing in front of a closed door.
ktz/dpa