The city is drafting new rules governing parent-teacher relations, including a ban on parents entering school premises without permission.
By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Teachers in elementary schools around Tel Aviv held a two-hour strike last week in protest against growing violence against them by students' parents, reports the Hebrew weekly Yediot Tel Aviv. In the most recent incident, an angry mother smacked a school principal across the face and shoulders after the principal refused to allow her son to go on a class excursion.
According to the report, at least five incidents of parental violence at schools in south Tel Aviv recently have shocked the city's teachers and principals. Teachers at one school held a one-day strike a few weeks ago, and the city has drafted new rules governing parent-teacher relations. Among these are a ban on parents entering school premises without permission and without a prior appointment, the issuing of restraining orders against harassing parents, and a refusal to give out teachers' mobile telephone numbers to parents. Last week, after the mother's attack on the principal of the Kfir elementary school, all elementary school teachers in Tel Aviv went on the two-hour strike.
The head of the teachers' union in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Leora Almog, said she had no doubt that if the rules and boundaries were made clear and enforced for parents, there would be less violence among students as well.
A municipal spokesman said the city was well aware of the recent incidents of violence and was working to inform parents of the new rules. The spokesman said brochures would be distributed before the coming school year to ensure that parents were aware of their obligations.