Svpo to court for new inspection reports
The board of the eight Schools for Personal Education (Svpo) has again taken to court to prevent the Education Inspectorate from publishing a number of critical reports. The reports would go public at the end of this week, but will remain under lock and key for now.
Image: Editors Education Magazine
Svpo lawyer Wouter Pors confirms to the Education Magazine that the board has gone to court. To prevent the reports from being published this week, a preliminary injunction has been filed with the court.
A year ago made the inspection known that she was going to investigate all Svpo schools. All eight schools were visited. The inspectorate saw reason for a quality investigation at five schools: Amsterdam, Geldermalsen, Kapelle, Hardegarijp and Hoorn. A recovery investigation was carried out at the Utrecht Svpo, which was declared very weak in 2019. In addition, the financial management and the use of education money were also considered. All schools are independent foundations with the same board. The reports were adopted five weeks ago.
Seat
The inspectorate is not yet allowed to make the reports public and must await the judgment of the judge. The hearing is scheduled for June 21 at the court in Amsterdam.
According to Svpo lawyer Pors, the inspectorate has taken “a number of decisions” against which Svpo has lodged an objection. In this objection procedure, which runs through the DUO executive service, the inspectorate must reconsider its judgment. This means that for a number of schools, the Inspectorate has determined that it is 'very weak': that is the only judgment that is formally regarded as a decision. Pors this morning: “You saw that correctly. I cannot say anything substantive about that, but that is how the law works indeed. ”
These are points that touch on the principles of the school
The Svpo leadership responded last week via Facebook with a statement already extensively on the findings, without making the reports themselves public. 'This shows that we again disagree with the inspectorate on a number of fundamental points. These are points that touch on the principles of the school and in particular the opportunities at a higher level that we offer students, 'says the school board.
Svpo has already conducted a large number of lawsuits against the inspectorate. In November 2019 known that the school board wanted to stop an extremely critical report about the Utrecht school. The judge judged a month later that the report anyway public could be made. Earlier on the inspectorate and Svpo also faced each other because of the reports about the three oldest schools in Kapelle, Hardegarijp and Geldermalsen.
Also read: A 'donation fund' for personal education en The price of the small class
