Swiss student lands hefty bill for skipping detention

A student who spent two years trying to get out of a school detention has lost her case, landing her parents with a fine of $2,100, Switzerland’s highest court ruled Monday.

The girl was given detention after skiing down off-limits slopes with several fellow students during a 2011 trip in Klosters, eastern Switzerland.

The disobedient students were handed a 90-minute detention, but the girl, who was 14 at the time and has not been named, failed to show up and refused to make up the time.

All the school’s attempts to reason with the girl and her parents failed, and the family hired a lawyer to contest the punishment, first before the school board, then the regional education department and then the canton-level court — each time unsuccessfully.

The verdict in their final appeal, to Switzerland’s Federal Court, was reached on July 24 and published on the court’s website on Monday.

The court ordered the girl’s parents to pay 2,000 Swiss francs ($2,100, 1,600 euros) in penalty fees, in addition to the undisclosed sum that they have had to pay their lawyers.