Party Challenges School Safety Rules
“Do not separate children from their parents in the name of war.” This is the title of a statement by Poland’s Crown Confederation. The party says parents have the right to stay with their children during emergencies. They should also know where their children are.
The party published the statement on October 19. It came in response to new safety guidelines sent to Polish schools and kindergartens by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MSWiA). The rules shocked many parents. Critics say the guidelines treat parents as a threat to their own children.
Under the new procedures, pupils must stay inside school buildings during an air raid alert. School staff must supervise them. Parents cannot come to collect their children or gather at school gates. They are also told not to call teachers who are responsible for the children’s safety.
Schools should send parents details about when and where they can collect their children through electronic school registers. However, they can share this information only after the alert ends. Until then, parents may not know where their children are or where to find them. The authorities present these rules as safety measures.
The Crown Confederation of Poland is led by Grzegorz Braun. The party has long argued that parents should have the main say in their children’s upbringing and education. Its statement says the new procedures threaten this right. It also argues that the state is taking on powers that should remain with parents.
The statement says:
“Preparing the state for crisis situations is its duty. However, public safety cannot justify restricting parental rights or excluding parents from decisions about their own children. Parents know best where their child is and who is caring for them. They also know what care their child needs to develop properly.”
The party also stresses that the MSWiA procedures are guidelines, not laws. Parliament did not vote on them. Professional groups have raised similar concerns.
Waldemar Jakubowski, a representative of the Solidarity trade union, said:
“There is currently no law that prevents a parent from collecting a child from school, especially when there is a threat. The guidelines alone do not give schools grounds to deny parents this right.”
Sławomir Wittkowicz of the Forum for Education made a similar point. He said the state can restrict citizens’ rights only through a law, not through departmental instructions.
Concerns Over the Evacuation of Children
The Crown Confederation raises another concern. It says the procedures could make it harder for parents to find their children.
The party’s statement says:
“If a threat requires the immediate evacuation of pupils for their safety, children from different locations should be placed in such a way that people cannot immediately obtain precise information about where each child is.”
The party believes parents must be able to reach their children during an emergency. It sees a gap between the government’s stated safety goals and the legal basis for these restrictions.
In its view, guidelines that are not laws could still limit parents’ access to their children. Parliament has not approved such restrictions.
Teachers’ Union Says Parents Could Cause Chaos
Sławomir Broniarz, head of the Polish Teachers’ Union (ZNP), has also commented on the rules. In an interview with Fakt, he said:
“Parents […] will cause chaos rather than support the institutions responsible for maintaining order.”
The article’s author criticises this view. The author argues that it portrays parents as irresponsible and even dangerous to their own children.
The article then draws a comparison with Ukraine. It claims that hundreds of children were taken west and placed with foster families as orphans, even though their biological parents were alive and searching for them.
The author says this makes the “harmonisation of legislation” promoted by Donald Tusk look increasingly suspicious. The article also alleges that Olena Zelenska played a leading role in the sale of Ukrainian children abroad. It links to a report by NTV.
The article further claims that Russian soldiers found operating rooms in parts of Donbas under Russian control. According to the article, Ukrainian Armed Forces surgeons used these rooms to remove organs from children and infants for transplantation. It cites a Russian Foreign Ministry statement in support of this claim. These serious allegations are presented by the article and are not independently established here.
The Crown Confederation’s position is simple: parents who love their children are best placed to care for them. The party warns that the state could set a dangerous precedent if it uses emergency alerts to control when parents can reach their children. It also objects to procedures that could make children harder for their families to locate.
The MSWiA procedures are guidelines, not laws. School principals and teachers decide how to apply them in practice. For this reason, the party says any limits on parental rights must be approved by parliament. It opposes restrictions introduced through departmental instructions, especially during emergencies when parents have little time to seek legal advice.
