Debate, Bullying | Has the Liberal Party voted down the FrP proposal on school uniforms?

Sandefjord FrP submitted an interpellation (question) to the mayor of the municipal council on 21 March. The question was as follows: Will the mayor ensure that a case is put forward for political consideration that looks at the advantages and disadvantages of introducing school uniforms in the primary school in Sandefjord. It is the student who must be the focus in such a case. We wanted knowledge and debate about this because many children are bullied because of clothes/fashion. Something many students themselves confirm. We are willing to consider all possibilities to reduce bullying.

The mayor said no, so we haven’t got a case and we won’t get a case considering the pros and cons of school uniforms.

Camilla Bilstad Johannesen writes the following in her post: FrP has proposed school uniforms and equated uniforms with overcoming bullying. It is not only misleading, but downright wrong and I am genuinely worried about whether people follow and understand what is being debated and dealt with politically. But I read in the post that the Liberals think they are sitting on the facts when it comes to school uniforms and bullying, while the FrP wanted knowledge and have in no way decided whether school uniforms would be a good tool or not.

Sandefjord FrP wanted knowledge about the advantages and disadvantages of using a school uniform in primary school, but we have never proposed that it should be introduced.

Bullying must go

I read that the Liberal Party will continue to invest in what they believe works and that they have received approval for a team to help students and teachers deal with bullying cases, a proposal supported by the FrP. But we don’t just want to deal with bullying cases, we want to reduce bullying. That is why we are looking at school uniforms, a mobile-free school, stricter practices by moving the person who carries out the bullying out of school and other measures. This is not easy, but we are willing to consider all measures.

Cuts in the municipal area

Among other things, we have fought to keep school secretaries at schools. In a meeting of the main committee – knowledge, children and young people on 24 April 2024, FrP puts forward a proposal not to carry out cuts in school secretary functions/positions in 2024, and the savings for 2025 are assessed in connection with the framework case, (Of course, this proposal should have said tertiary/framework case.)

We do not want to cut 2 million in 2024 and 4 million in 2025. We want a school secretary function at the individual school and that there are enough administrative staff to contribute to a good everyday school life.

Our proposal is voted down by Venstre, Høyre and KrF. They want cuts to be implemented for 2024, but consider 2025 again in the framework case. It is disappointing to see the debate from the meeting where they decide to carry out the cut of 2 million for the second half of 2024. It is indicated that it has been included in the budget, yes that is correct, but the implementation of cuts should not take place until the case has been made until political treatment. And that was what the issue they dealt with in this meeting was about.

My question then becomes why implement cuts for 6 months and then reverse it again in 2025?

Sandefjord FrP will work to reduce bullying in schools, we will keep the debate alive and we will consider all measures that can contribute to reducing bullying. Then we must recognize that the Storting and the government must give teachers and school owners greater room for action and better tools to manage the school day. Violence against pupils and teachers, bullying and access to drugs during school hours must be combated.