The First Parents' Meeting — Your Rights at School

What the school must tell you — and does not always Section 4 of the Student Rights Law, 5761-2000, requires that the law's provisions be brought to the knowledge of pupils and parents at the start of every school year, along with the director-general's directives and the institution's own rules on pupils' rights and duties, including disciplinary rules. The permanent-expulsion procedure adds that the law's provisions and the institution's disciplinary rules shall be displayed in a place that is prominent and accessible to pupils and parents. So at the first meeting you may ask for the school's rules and its disciplinary code, and you may ask for them in writing. This is not an unusual request — it is the school's duty. Parent payments: one compulsory payment, everything else optional This is where parents pay the most unnecessary money, simply because nobody told them. The only compulsory payment is personal-accident insurance — ₪69 per pupil in the 5787 school year, across all grades. In the Ministry's own words: all other services provided are optional services, and a parent may decide that their child will not consume a particular service, in which case they will not pay for it. And the point most online guides get wrong: collecting for an optional service is conditional on the individual written consent of each parent — and in the notice's words, "the consent of the institutional parents' representation does not suffice". The parents' committee cannot consent on your behalf. In parallel, at school level, the institutional payments circular requires the approval of the institutional parents' representation and of the district's approving officer, and it is signed by the principal and by the chair of the parents' representation. No money may be collected from parents before the payments circular has been approved. If you were asked for money and there is no approved circular — ask to see it. A few more rules worth knowing: class parties are not collected from parents in 5787; registration or studies may not be conditioned on membership of an association or on providing payment-method details; one service may not be conditioned on payment for another; and information about which parent paid or did not pay may not be passed to other parents or to the parents' committee. A parent who asks for a breakdown of how the money was used is entitled to a copy of the financial report once a year. When there is no money — what the circular actually says The notice provides that pupils may not be prevented from participating in activities because of non-payment due to financial difficulties, and that solutions must be found to include them, through the local authority and the school administration. It matters to state this precisely: that protection applies to financial hardship. A parent who did not pay for an optional activity for another reason — their child will not take part in that activity. So if you cannot pay, say so and ask for a solution — do not stay silent and do not give up the activity. And across the board, regardless of the reason, there are things that may not be done over non-payment: a pupil may not be removed from class or from studies; access to internal examinations may not be denied; a term, mid-year, end-of-year or completion certificate may not be withheld; and a matriculation certificate may not be held back. The scholarships nobody tells you about Every school runs an institutional scholarship committee under circular 0406. It grants scholarships to pupils whose parents struggle to pay for study materials and educational and social activities — ₪100 to ₪750 in primary school, and ₪100 to ₪1,200 in post-primary. The committee must set dates for submitting applications and dates for hearing objections to its decisions, and its protocols are confidential and kept at the school. Here is the practical part: the school administration is under a duty to ensure that every pupil needing assistance is aware that the scholarship budget exists, and to publicise it in the institutional payments circular, on the school website and in notices to parents. In practice many parents have never heard of it. Ask the principal, at the first meeting: when does the scholarship committee convene, and what is the deadline for an application? It is probably the most profitable question you will ask this year. If you approach the Ministry directly, the enquiry is routed back to the principal — so save the detour. Transport and textbooks Participation in school transport is set by distance: over 2 km from compulsory kindergarten through grade 4, and over 3 km from grade 5 through grade 10. Particularly important: where a pupil is bussed to another authority because there is no suitable school in their own authority, no charge is made to the parents for the transport. On books, the Textbook Loan Law and circular 0395 provide that since 5777 all schools are required to join the textbook-loan programme. The loan itself is an optional payment. The parents' committee — how it actually works The class meeting at which the committee is elected takes place no later than 15 October, and the invitation is sent at least a week ahead. A class committee has three members; if three do not volunteer a reduced committee serves, and if no parents volunteer at all, no committee serves that year. A parent cannot be compelled to vote or to stand. Each child carries one vote: two parents of the same pupil vote together, and twins in the same class carry two votes. Voting is open unless 10% of the parents present asked for a secret ballot. The institutional representation is elected from among class-committee members, the principal convenes it no later than 1 November, and it meets at least three times a year. What the committee may not do: a class committee shall not intervene in the academic, social or personal situation of a particular pupil in the class, and no individual information about a pupil may be circulated in the parents' group. Nor is the principal authorised to hand out parents' contact details without their consent. A note for searchers: the parents' council (מועצת הורים) was abolished; the correct term today is parents' representation. What the school may not do to your child This is a short list worth knowing by heart. The law requires disciplinary measures to befit human dignity and prohibits corporal or humiliating measures. Section 11 provides expressly: "a school shall not take a punitive measure against a pupil on account of an act or omission of their parents". The school-climate circular adds an explicit list of responses that may not be taken: a strict prohibition on corporal punishment; a strict prohibition on humiliating punishment, including public shaming, mockery, insult and degradation; a pupil may not be moved to a lower class; punishing a pupil for their parents' act or omission is prohibited; a staff member may not search a pupil's personal belongings, including their bag and digital devices; and a pupil may not be barred from the school grounds over a discipline breach — for instance arriving without uniform or late. A conduct grade is permitted only in the part where the teacher assesses the pupil's functioning, and a subject grade may not be lowered for unbecoming behaviour. Suspension — what must happen For the process to be fair, the details of the incident must be established and the pupil must be given the chance to present their version. The suspension is carried out by the principal, who consults professional staff before deciding. Parents must be informed by telephone at least one day before the suspension, and the suspension letter — stating the explanation for it — must be given to the pupil at the same time, with confirmation that the parents received it. Calling parents to collect their children during the school day should be avoided as far as possible. A suspended pupil is given, in coordination with the parents, an educational task to carry out at home, and the homeroom teacher keeps in contact. On the pupil's return, the child and the parents are called in for a conversation. In an in-school suspension the pupil is supervised by an adult with a study task, the parents are informed, and the pupil may not be moved to a lower class. Permanent expulsion — here your rights are strong This is the gravest procedure and therefore the most protected. Under section 6, a pupil shall not be permanently expelled except after the pupil and their parents were given an opportunity to present their arguments. The decision must be in writing and reasoned, and the principal must immediately notify you that you may appeal it in writing within 14 days to a hearing committee. Most importantly: a pupil shall not be expelled before an appeal is filed, and if an appeal was filed, not until it has been decided. The child stays in school meanwhile. The hearing committee is a district body comprising the district director, a teachers' organisation representative, a national parents' organisation representative and a pupils'-council representative — and you may ask that the pupils'-council representative not take part. The summons is sent by registered post, and separated or divorced parents each receive their own. If neither the pupil nor either parent appeared, the hearing is postponed and a further summons sent by registered post. The appeal is heard within 14 days of filing, and the decision is given in writing with reasons. A hearing-committee decision may be challenged by petition to the administrative court. Hebrew is not your first language? What you are actually entitled to Here we are careful not to promise more than exists. An explicit duty to provide an interpreter exists in two defined contexts, and in both it is strong. The first is permanent expulsion. Circular 0416 provides that in any case where the parent or the pupil does not command the institution's main language of instruction, an interpreter shall be summoned — or another person who commands both that language and the language the parents speak — and that the parents may bring such a person of their own. The second is statutory special-education committees. Circular 0287 provides that where a hearing involves parents who do not speak Hebrew, or parents who need the process mediated, the chair shall arrange the required accessibility in advance — including reading the documents aloud and translating into a language the parents understand. And if the accessibility was not provided, a new date shall be set, and that postponement does not count towards the limit on postponements. In other situations — an ordinary parents' meeting, a conversation with the homeroom teacher, the payments circular — we found no standing duty in the circulars to provide translation. What you can do: you are always entitled to come with a family member, friend or companion who will translate for you, and you are always entitled to ask that important matters be given to you in writing so someone can help you read them. Such a request, made politely and in advance, is almost always granted. Some schools host mediators from the Ethiopian National Project — education and social-work professionals of Ethiopian descent who mediate between family and school and encourage parental involvement. The programme does not operate in every school; it is worth asking the office whether there is a mediator, and if not, approaching ENP. When something is wrong — the escalation ladder This order is not mere etiquette; it is set out in the circular, and approaches that follow it are handled faster. Start with the homeroom teacher. Then the counsellor, then the principal. A dispute between parents and a staff member goes to the principal; a dispute with the principal goes to the general inspector and, if needed, to the district director. From there — the Ministry's public inquiries and complaints division. The Ministry itself advises, at the top of its enquiry form, exhausting the professional channels at the institution and the local authority first, so it helps to show that you did. Document at every stage: date, name, what was said. After a verbal conversation, send a short email summarising it. Arriving at the formal stage with a documented trail makes the handling faster and more serious. And if the problem concerns discriminatory treatment rather than a wrong decision, there are dedicated routes; see the guide on registration discrimination linked below. Disclaimer This guide describes the law and the director-general's circulars as published in official sources and is not legal advice. Parent-payment amounts are updated each year in a Ministry notice — verify against the official table and against your school's payments circular.