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Thick air in Solingen: Because the Ministry of Health and Schools in North Rhine-Westphalia have banned the city from teaching half of the schoolchildren digitally, a protest is forming.
Mayor Tim Kurzbach announced that he would remonstrate against the order from Düsseldorf - the only permitted form of protest by officials against what they consider to be an illegal order.
Parents 'and teachers' associations had also sharply criticized the state government's decision against shift teaching.
And Lucas Braecklein, himself the father of three children, filed a criminal complaint against School Minister Yvonne Gebauer (FDP) and Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) - for willful bodily harm and for calling for a violation of the Corona Protection Ordinance.
more on the subject
Schools in Corona mode: NRW prohibits shift lessons in SolingenBy Armin Himmelrath
North Rhine-Westphalia: Ministry warns schools against corona deniers
SPIEGEL education newsletter: Schools and Corona - as polarized by the motto "Keep it up" by Silke Fokken, Armin Himmelrath and Swantje Unterberg
The regulation states: "Every (...) capable person is obliged to behave in such a way that they do not expose themselves or others to avoidable risks of infection."
However, Braecklein said in response to a request from SPIEGEL, that is exactly what the minister was doing: "The decree does not minimize the risks, but intentionally preserve them. In my opinion, this is a scandal."
The Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office confirmed receipt of the criminal complaint.
Now it is checked whether there is an initial suspicion.
Despite the ban from Düsseldorf, shared lessons took place on Wednesday at the Alexander-Coppel-Gesamtschule in Solingen.
Headmaster Andreas Tempel explains why.
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Tempel, on Wednesday you worked with divided school classes at your school, even though the state of North Rhine-Westphalia had previously prohibited this by instructions.
Why are you risking disciplinary action, maybe even your job?
Temple:
Because I swore an oath of office and it is my job to protect the people at my school.
This also includes health protection in terms of Corona.
The city of Solingen has presented an extremely good concept, according to which we should only have half of the students in the classroom in November and the other half at home in front of the screen.
That would have made for significantly more gaps not only in the classes, but also in the school buses, for example.
The mail with the ban on this concept by the Ministry of Education and Health only reached me on Tuesday after 5 p.m.
And then, unfortunately, it was already too late to cancel the shared lessons for the next day.
SPIEGEL:
But other schools in Solingen managed to do that too.
Tempel:
To be honest, I didn't want to see that again on Tuesday evening either.
We have put an incredible amount of work into this concept.
On Monday, my colleagues worked until late into the night on how to convert our complex course system with its various differentiations so that around 450 students can be taught remotely at any time and all courses still take place.
By the way, that worked well on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Education had known about these plans for almost a week - and still took an irritating amount of time before announcing its ban.
One can call that outrageous.
SPIEGEL:
The ministry says: The city provided information too late, and the so-called Solinger Weg with shift lessons is exacerbating educational injustice.
Tempel:
I think it's great that the FDP school minister is now discovering fairness in education as a topic.
Really!
But to accuse ourselves of educational injustice as a comprehensive school - that gives me the hat cord.
Ms. Gebauer is unfortunately completely wrong here: The city of Solingen has purchased 3500 devices for needy children and young people, 140 of which we distributed to us.
The city's concept is absolutely convincing in terms of organization, technology and pedagogy.
At our school we have a great, dedicated team that had plans on how we can reach and take all children with us.
On Wednesday, during shift lessons, the teachers sometimes even made their own data available so that we could hold the lessons in the hybrid model.
Because our school has a fiber optic cable in the basement, but it won't be connected until December.
"I very much hope that school policy will again be aligned with objective and professional framework conditions."
Andrew Temple
SPIEGEL:
That sounds like everything didn't go smoothly on Wednesday ...
Tempel:
That's why we declared the whole thing to be a test day: To find out where there is a problem and where we still need to improve.
Because I am sure that with the current number of infections we will soon have to switch to distance teaching anyway.
On Wednesday, for example, we had to quarantine the entire 12th grade at short notice - and half a dozen teachers too.
But Mrs. Gebauer apparently does not want to admit that.
SPIEGEL:
Where does your anger with the school minister and the state government come from?
Tempel:
Because the decision may be made for party political and not educational reasons.
It seems to me that the prime minister's ambitions play a crucial role.
The school policy in this country has been going on for months, Mr. Laschet: He goes to the press first, then Mrs. Gebauer follows - and only then are the schools informed.
I very much hope that school policy will again be geared towards factual and professional framework conditions.
SPIEGEL:
You hand out a lot.
Are you not afraid of legal consequences?
Tempel:
I said on Wednesday that if I received a warning, I would hang this letter in a gold frame on the wall.
And on Thursday morning, 11th grade students came to me and gave me a golden frame.
With a commendation - for my commitment to her and her health.
That was absolutely moving.
And when I came into the staff room with this frame in hand, there was applause.
Believe me: it is really not normal for colleagues to applaud the headmaster.
Apparently I didn't do anything wrong.
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