At the meeting of the Alytus City Municipality Council held on Thursday, when considering the question of changing the plan for the reorganization of the education network, the position of the “Drevinukas” school-kindergarten community was once again expressed, that they are against “Drevinukas” being reorganized by joining it to the Vidzgiris school department.
Loreta Šernienė, the head of the Education and Sports Department of the Alytus City Municipality administration, who presented the decision on the changes, asked the council members to approve the addition of the nursery-kindergarten “Nykštukas” to the Piliakalnis pro-gymnasium, the nursery-kindergarten “Boružėlė” to the Likiškėli pro-gymnasium, and the “Boružėlė” nursery-kindergarten to the Vidzgiris school. the aforementioned “Drevinuk”.
Kristina Šiupienytė, the chairwoman of the Alytus active parents’ community, who spoke during the meeting, while talking about the “Drevinukas” school-kindergarten, raised the question of why it is necessary to destroy something that has been living perfectly for so many years.
“You can really see and feel how much the transformation of education in the city brings a lot of tension and people’s dissatisfaction for all those four years. Communities of schools and kindergartens protect the legitimate interests of children and themselves,” said K. Šiupienytė, reminding that “Drevinukas” is under the magnifying glass for the first time.
The woman said that when politicians talk about the fact that the achievements of the students of “Drevinuk” have fallen, they seem to forget that there was a pandemic not so long ago, and the general education schools, where elementary education is carried out, could not boast of achievements either.
“A lot of untruths have really been told, they are trying to achieve their goals with a bulldozer. If we were to talk about the arguments why the community does not want “Drevinukas” to be connected to another school, then in this case the institution’s identity, values, and traditions would disappear. After merging the two institutions, one legal entity would remain, and funding would go specifically to the main school. We see no basis for merging, we are not financially unprofitable, the number of children is sufficient, we have all the spaces necessary for education. The school has long been ready for inclusive education”, said the representative of the community. According to her, the decision to connect was learned almost overnight, after the fact.
Meanwhile, the head of the Education and Sports Department, L. Šernienė, claimed that all procedures were carried out properly, in compliance with deadlines and legal acts. There were even several meetings with the community, and all their questions were answered in writing.
“The group of professionals worked and created the project, then from the very morning, when all members of the working group agreed, we immediately went to the institutions that will be affected by the changes and presented everything live. How can you present a project even earlier, for which not even a plan has been prepared?” – asked L. Šernienė rhetorically.
Opposition member Povilas Labukas said that he saw a lot of injustice and inconsistencies during the committee meetings. According to him, some councilors who had questions were isolated from providing information.
“We have been told that inclusive education will be insecure, but again none of you have gone to see what the real situation really is. You would have seen that there are all the necessary spaces. You make decisions without analyzing them,” P. Labukas said.
Valerijus Vencius said that he could see the desire to destroy small, well-functioning institutions, and called to take into account the letters with observations received from the Government representative office, the National Education Agency.
The chairman of the Social Democratic faction, Mindaugas Šima, pointed out that there is constant talk that the institution is being destroyed, but according to him, the head of the Education and Sports Department has ensured that all children in the institution will remain in the same classes, all employees will work where they have been until now, in that in the building itself.
“Nothing changes, all equipment remains. It can be said that the code of the legal entity will change. As far as I know, the community was met four times, arguments were presented. So what else could be done?” – asked M. Šima.
However, the decision to reorganize the aforementioned institutions was made. 17 council members voted for it, 6 were against.
However, the “Drevinukos” community does not rule out the possibility of seeking justice through legal means.
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Tags: background transformation education network difference opinion Drevinukas decision politicians
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