Maddox
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Maddox has a chronic disease and other serious health conditions. He is at increased risk of severe illness and death if he contracts COVID-19, he told the Royal Commission.
Because of this he decided to keep his son home from school temporarily at the beginning of school term.
Maddox notified the school and requested some homeschooling support. He provided a medical letter and stressed he would be available full time to assist his son and would only require some weekly guidance.
The school rejected Maddox’s proposal. Under the guidelines, if a child is not sick they should be attending school. ‘I felt denied an opportunity to discuss the matter in more detail,’ Maddox said.
He wrote to the education department who initially advised if Maddox’s son didn’t attend school he would be marked as absent and face the consequences. When Maddox escalated the complaint, a manager agreed to discuss the situation with the principal and find a solution.
The principal emailed Maddox advising him his son’s teacher would compile one week’s worth of work in booklet form with a possible booklet for the following week. Furthermore this was ‘a one-off gesture outside of the guidelines’. A clear indication, Maddox said, ‘that this was not meant to be a reasonable adjustment based on my disability’.
Maddox worked directly with his son’s teacher and said ‘we have been able to provide him with an excellent homeschooling learning experience’.
After a few weeks, daily community transmission rates were low and Maddox’s son returned to school.
Maddox remained concerned about the volatility and unpredictability of COVID-19. He wanted to make his own risk assessment about sending his son to school in the future.
He raised this with the principal who said a risk mitigation measure wasn’t a valid reason to keep his son home from school. He tried to assure Maddox that if COVID-19 cases rise and the school is affected he would work on possible solutions ‘within the policies and processes at that time’. But Maddox said the pandemic presents a serious risk to his wellbeing and he wants to proactively find a solution now rather than later.
The education department told him if he wasn’t happy with the situation ‘the only option is to formally take [his son] out of school and apply for homeschooling’.
Maddox is disappointed the principal has responded in this way ‘simply pointing to the guidelines’. He said he expected more support from the principal and an opportunity to explain his personal situation and concerns to the school’s leadership team.
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.