Parents in Perth and Kinross who do not send their kids to school because they are worried about COVID-19 have been told the council would “respect” their view.
The council’s director for children’s services Sheena Devlin told a meeting of the full council that the authority would not take “punitive” action.
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She was responding to a question from Conservative councillor for Highland Perthshire John Duff, who asked what policy would be in place if parents chose to keep children at home because they are worried about the virus.
Ms Devlin told councillors: “I am conscious that for many people this will be an anxious and worrying time.
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“Different people will rightly have a different view of what they think is appropriate.
“We will treat this in the same we would pre-COVID that if any parent or carer has concern or anxiety about children/young people coming to school then we would want to understand what those are and what it is that we could do that might help reassure them and allow them to be confident about sending their children/young people back to school.”
She said school staff would work closely with families to do that, adding: “We recognise that for some people they would not want to do that and if that’s their decision then that’s a decision that we would respect.
“I would just want to confirm it would not be our intention to take any kind of punitive action if that was the case.”
