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After the GP’s post last week on how students are prioritized in school elections, the debate has become heated.
The right-wing populist newspaper Fria Tider intercepted the news, worked on the GP text and linked the school choice chaos to the pretext for newcomers and that this meant that Swedish students were sent to immigrant-friendly schools far from home. .
In a GP discussion article, Staffan Gunnarson, Citizenship Collection, writes that it is irresponsible to prioritize newcomers to popular schools in the city, and the message is conveyed on social media that newcomers, at the expense of Swedes, they always have their first option:
“It makes no sense for Swedes to have priority in choosing a school in Gothenburg. Students are forced to travel all over Gothenburg to find their school. However, if you are a newcomer, you always have your first choice.”
“Has KF reviewed and adopted this crazy proposal in Gbg? What parts have proposed this crazy proposal? What parts in Gbg are behind the proposal, ruining ALL SWEDISH SCHOOLS?”
“Unfortunately, you were born in Sweden to Swedish parents and you have to bow to the newly arrived Muslim migrant immigrants in this social Sweden. You sacrifice everything and they take everything and thank you for raping, robbing, humiliating yourself. If you protest, then you are racist”
“Another terrible betrayal from the Swede!”
At the same time, the email falls on GP reporters from readers asking why newcomers have priority over other students, and Swedish Democrats have resurrected the question they have pushed to delete “newcomers” as the basis for prioritization in school elections. Democrats have also raised the issue of a new order of priorities in school elections, where “newcomers” disappear.
Students from three schools are affected.
But what does it really look like? Is it a priority for newcomers to have around 1,500 children who do not receive one of their five school options?
About 12,000 children are covered by this fall’s school choice. 6,170 of these are preschool students. In this category, prioritization of newcomers is not even applied in theory.
Of the remaining 6,000 children between grade 1 and grade 9, there are three cases in which a student has been given priority to arrive fresh, according to a compilation by the elementary school administration.
There are three different schools. One school in western Gothenburg, one in eastern Gothenburg and one in Örgryte-Härlanda.
– If a newly arrived student requests a school where there is free space, the student enters there, the student would have done so even if they had not recently arrived. In those cases, the student is not accepted because of the newcomer selection priority, says Nils Kaiser, acting head of the elementary school administration department.
May have expelled other newcomers
It is only when it comes between students who have the same right to a school place, and the school is full, as it matters if the person has just arrived. The same is true, for example, sibling misconduct.
How come there are no more cases than that? In your rules, do you say it is the most important factor in prioritizing students against each other?
– They got a place in schools because there was a place or because they lived nearby, says Nils Kaiser.
READ MORE: Protest lists against school choice: “Children cry for sleep”
SD raises the issue of newcomers again
For several years, SD has been lobbying to abolish the newcomer approach to school elections. On May 11, 2020, the party again filed a complaint on the matter. It reads: “Mark the priority of newcomers over Swedish students in school elections in the city of Gothenburg.”
Why are you raising this again now? Have you always seemed like this?
– We were already asking when we found out about this in 2015. It’s crazy that newcomers have priority, says SD group leader Jörgen Fogelklou.
He notes that Gothenburg has received criticism from the School Board of Appeals Board for selection, and that the board believes that newcomers are not a basis for objective selection.
– Then I thought it was clear. Then came the new active school option. For us, it goes without saying that it should disappear.
But there are only three cases, isn’t it the most symbolic policy that you are raising this now?
– There are three too many. There are three students who have not sat down because the newcomers have sat down. Defend him for his parents, who are only three pieces, so it is not very important.
school choice
Number of students who were included in the school elections for the fall of 2020: around 12,000
Percentage chosen by the school: 89% (last year it was 88%)
Percentage that obtained its first option: 78% (last year it was 88%)
Percentage that received one of your options: 87% (last year it was 96%). However, the numbers are difficult to compare because custodians might want 3 school units last year, this year they might want 5.
Percentage who have not received any of their options: 13% (last year it was 4%)
Source: Elementary School Administration.
admission rules
In accordance with School Law, a student must be placed in the school units of the school where the student’s custodian wishes the student to go, unless the desired placement does not violate the legitimate requirement of another student’s placement in a school unit. close to home. This is the so-called “closeness principle”.
All preschool and elementary students have the right to a school placement in a school location in accordance with the principle of proximity. It does not mean a place in the closest school unit, but:
About two miles from home (child’s registration address) for grades F-3.
About four miles from home for grades 4-6.
About eight miles from home for grades 7-9.
Here’s what priority looks like if a school unit has more applicants than places:
preschool
The student has siblings in the school unit (sibling preference).
Absolute proximity (the bird’s path).
If two students live exactly the same distance from a school unit, these students are drawn.
Primary school
Newcomers have priority if the current school unit has a low proportion of newcomers.
The student has siblings in the school unit (sibling preference).
Absolute proximity (the bird’s path).
If two students live exactly the same distance from a school unit, these students are drawn.
Newcomer
Newcomers to school elections include children born outside of Sweden and who have lived here for up to four years.
Newcomers are a basis for prioritization of grades 1-9, if it is full at one school, and there is a maximum of 5 percent of newcomers to that school. This does not apply to the preschool class.
Last year, however, the “newcomer” was a basis for priorities even in the preschool class, and then 46 students were prioritized because they had recently arrived, of whom the vast majority of children started preschool.
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