Teacher Gabriele Larrass will remember this day for a long time. She was on a small city trip with fourth graders from the Freie Goetheschule/Waldorfschule Neustadt. In Wallgasse the children were allowed to run ahead on the way back. Everyone there knows their way around well, after all, the school is very close by on Konrad-Adenauer-Straße. “Suddenly there were loud cheers,” says Larrass. Of course, she immediately asked the students what was going on. And they started bubbling away.
A parking meter in Wallgasse was so tempting that students simply pressed the cancel button. “Then it went clink, clink, and suddenly the children had money in their hands.” 10.50 euros, to be exact. The first reaction? “Some shouted: Now we can go eat ice cream.” But Larrass, who undertook the trip during practical religious education classes, asked the children to think for a moment: Why did people put money in the machine, and who should get it? A lively discussion immediately began. The class quickly agreed: We can’t keep it and we’ll bring it back. First we went to the police station, where an astonished police officer listened to the students’ story – and then sent the group to the city’s public order office.
Ice cream trip with the mayor
People there were no less amazed when the students showed up on Hindenburgstrasse on Thursday. “A nice official listened to everything and accepted the money.” Mayor Stefan Ulrich was then told the story straight away. He was very enthusiastic about the class and their behavior. So he called the school directly and was in class on Thursday morning to visit the children. He explained to the students that the city is very happy because it needs the income from the parking ticket machines to pay for city infrastructure. One thing is very important to Ulrich: “Honesty is rewarded.” He firmly believes in this principle. That’s why he had a big voucher with him – a scoop of ice cream for each student. So the circle closes. And Larrass is also enthusiastic: “That was a wonderful processing of the matter. The children themselves said they felt lighter and brighter after handing over the money. Honesty just makes for peace.”
Next week she wants to go on an ice cream trip with her students, says teacher Larrass. The exact date is still open: “We want Mr. Ulrich to be there. We invited him in return.”
What a beautiful Neustadt story. But the mayor has some bad news for everyone who also wants to try their luck at parking machines. “We checked everyone. Of course, such a defect shouldn’t happen. The children just found the machine where something was wrong,” says Ulrich – with a smile on his face, because he doesn’t have an experience like that every day.
