Volgograd officials explain second-grader's New Year's event exclusion

The press service of the Volgograd mayor«s office provided the Department of Education»s position on the scandal at Gymnasium No. 2, where a second-grader«s mother claimed her daughter was not allowed to attend a New Year»s event due to an unpaid fee of 250 rubles (approximately $3), leaving the girl to sit alone on a bench in the corridor. Officials apologized to the woman and explained why the teacher acted as she did.

We previously wrote about this conflict. The child«s mother admitted she had forgotten to hand over the money but stated she learned of the situation after the fact from a parent chat group. What outraged her, she said, was not so much the misunderstanding itself but the attitude of the homeroom teacher.

«When everyone went to the celebration in the middle of the lesson, the teacher didn»t let her go. She said: «If you have money—go to the cafeteria; if you don»t have money—go to the library,«» the schoolgirl«s mother stated. »Zhenya went out into the corridor, sat on a sofa on the first floor, and waited alone until it was all over.«

The Department of Education reported that it is conducting an inspection at the gymnasium; the teacher received a reprimand and the deputy principal a warning for lax oversight of event organization. Additionally, the response stated that the second-grader«s mother, unlike other parents who had forgotten to hand in the money, did not ask the teacher to pay on her behalf, as other parents did.

«The decision to invite the »Smile« theater studio to the second grade»s New Year«s matinee was made at a parent meeting, where the ticket price was announced. Moreover, children»s attendance at the theatrical performance by the aforementioned theater studio was not mandatory. This information was additionally posted in the parent chat. On the day of the New Year«s matinee, several parents who, for various reasons, had not managed to hand in the money to pay for the theater»s services contacted the teacher and asked her to do it for them so their child could attend the performance. The homeroom teacher gladly accommodated all parents who asked her to do so.«

The second-grader«s mother, however, for her part, claims that the department»s version does not fully correspond to reality and stated that she is now being portrayed as the culprit.

«Now all the news is against me. Yesterday, in the presence of district authorities, there was a meeting in the principal»s office where I was persistently asked to write a document stating that I have no complaints,« the woman said. »I told them I would do so only after I am personally provided with documents about the measures taken, because right now I learn about everything only from journalists.«

As mentioned earlier, journalists were unable to reach the teacher herself at the number known to V1.RU. An SMS message asking her to tell her side of the story also went unanswered.