Florence, the principal does not exempt her daughter from religion class: the parents appeal to the TAR and win
Request denied because the deadline had expired. Thus the principal of a comprehensive school in Florence had justified the reiterated refusal of a family’s request to exempt her daughter from studying religion. A decision that reached the court, where the judges agreed with the parents.
The case dates back to early March, when the headteacher had rejected the request of the parents of a fourth grade student because “the terms established by the school circular” had expired, which indicated January 30 as the deadline for enrollment, the following year, in the alternative education hour. However, the little girl had expressed her intention not to attend religion class again until after the deadline.
The request to follow up on her will, confirmed despite the religion teacher’s attempts to convince her not to leave, was repeatedly rejected by the principal. The family thus turned to a lawyer, who asked to place the child in an already formed class. The attempt at conciliation failed and the case ended up before the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) of Tuscany. In the appeal, the lawyer contested the infringement of the minor’s religious freedom and the violation of the girl’s right to benefit from alternative education time.
“The circulars have ordering terms that give the administration the opportunity to get organized, they don’t have peremptory terms. I have done everything to avoid resorting to the TAR, because it is an expensive expense for a family”, declared the lawyer Isetta Barsanti Mauceri, according to reports from La Repubblica.
“But after the principal’s answers we did it. The Tar proved us right: the frequency of the alternative time cannot be subjected to limitations that the law does not provide for, but must be constitutionally oriented. The headteacher was ordered to pay three thousand euros in legal fees and the reimbursement of expenses and that of the unified contribution”. In the ruling, the magistrates reiterated that “the teaching of the Catholic religion in Italian schools is based on the principle of free choice” and that there is “the right to choose each year whether or not to avail oneself of the teaching of the Catholic religion”.
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