A father who took his daughter on holiday to Disneyland during her school term is potentially facing criminal charges for unauthorized absence if the British Supreme Court ruling goes against him.
Last year, Jon Platt was fined £120 ($150) for taking his daughter out of school during the term to visit Disney World in Florida. The father had requested permission to take his child out of school, but the school denied his request.
The outrageous fine was blocked after two senior judges ruled that the father hadn’t done anything wrong since the child had a good attendence record for the remaining school year, as required by law.
The local council of Isle of Wight initially took Platt to court over the fine for taking out his daughter during the school year, has challenged the ruling and asked the Supreme Court justices to overturn it.
Platt spoke to Sky News ahead of the ruling on Tuesday, claiming if the Supreme Court overturns the decision, the parents of the 8.5 million children in England and Wales might face criminal liability for unauthorized absences of their kids, including from illness where a doctor’s note hasn’t been obtained.
“Somebody, somewhere, within the Department of Education should have realised that this was a ridiculous argument to put before the court,” he said.
“Of course, they won’t say that if they win today, but if they win today millions of parents will be faced with the situation where they could choose to keep their child in a state school and face possible criminal consequences for a single day’s absence at school.
“Or take them out and home educate them or move them into the private schooling system where these regulations don’t apply, that’s not what anybody wants to see but that’s what’s going to happen if they win.”
New official guidelines for UK schools were issued in 2013 that included rules for head teachers to allow students to miss classes only in “exceptional circumstances”.
The Department of Education also told parents that missing even a few days of school can seriously damage children’s school performance.
An education department spokesperson told Sky News: “Our position remains that children should not be taken out of school without good reason.
“That is why we have tightened the rules and are supporting schools and local authorities to use their powers to tackle unauthorised absence.”