The broadcasting station Radio Bremen aired a television program featuring an Irish/South African homeschooling family who live in Bremen.
The Neubronners are also briefly shown at a podium discussion (discussing the school which ran unregulated by the authorities for 28 years and which they now refuse to accredit) which took place that same day. The education senator of Bremen was invited to take part in the discussion, but of course declined. Instead she sent her press officer, who was outed by the TV crew feverishly scribbling so she could report on all this to her boss the next day. When asked by the interviewer if the Neubronners would be allowed an exemption, she says “We must stick to the law”, and the interviewer asks, “So, no exceptions?” and she smiles sweetly and says, “No exceptions, because exceptions lead to other exceptions”.
The interview is almost exclusively in German, but some of the family’s conversation is in English.
posted by Valerie
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Actually, the family lives about 10 minutes walk outside the border of Bremen, in the State of Niedersachsen, which at least doesn’t have those horrific coercive fines in their law… but they’re probably working on it.
Thanks for the clarification, Rina. In re-reading this, the description of the press officer reminded me of the Harry Potter series character, Professor Umbridge. [delicate shudder]