Parents of Voronezh School 30 Seek Probe
Rear view of School No. 30 in the VAI microdistrict of Voronezh, Russia.
The voice of School No. 30 principal Pavel Leonidovich Strepetov on the other end of the line sounds brisk and fresh — even though it’s already nearing three in the afternoon.
— Who exactly are you? — Pavel Leonidovich asks distrustfully, although a couple of seconds earlier I had given my first and last name and position. — I don’t communicate by phone (distrust with a hint of distaste. — Author)
— Let me come by…
— Coordinate with the press office. Have a good day!
So there — and you say he swears. By the way, scholars of the Russian language regard profanity as an integral part of our culture. For example, Doctor of Philology Hasan Guseinov, in one of his articles, called profanity «ubiquitous», and «especially where people, under pressure of circumstances, are required to do and say not what, or not quite what, they want». Let’s assume that telling the mothers of the 1 «B» first-graders «Cut the ****!» — in response to their outrage about folding desks and a leaky toilet — was something School No. 30 principal in Voronezh, Pavel Leonidovich, didn’t really want to say, but he was pressured by circumstances.
«Will they really not remove him?»
— Imagine — he (the principal!) personally greeted the children at the entrance this morning: like, oh, and who is this — why, these are our first-gra-a-ders. He also announced that he’s “giving a bonus” specifically to our 1 «B» — for all four years we will study in the first shift. Usually first and third grades study in the first shift, and second and fourth in the second…
Bewildered parents from 1 «B», who were not afraid to go against the system for their children’s sake, relay the latest news to me and ask: «Will they really, after everything that has come to light, not remove him?»
That, friends, is not for me to answer. Why the condition of the School No. 30 principal does not always inspire parents’ confidence in his ability to work, why millions were allocated from the city budget for repairs and what we ended up with was this…
… and this…
Mothers and fathers have great faith in the power of prosecutors, who began their review after the media outcry. They have already walked through the school. And the other day they allegedly summoned Margarita Prosvetova, head of the Levoberezhny Otdel obrazovaniya (Left Bank District Department of Education), who in theory should be aware of the problems and financial expenditures of all the district’s schools. According to the parents’ committee’s information from a “very reliable source”, prosecutors spoke with Margarita Nikolaevna for a long time — “call it half a day”.
— In addition, as far as we know, a commission from the district department of education was at the school, — the parents say. — They looked everywhere, checked carefully, meticulously noted every defect… Although, it’s probably impossible to describe everything there: wherever you poke — it’s falling apart. Even the corridor curtains have snags, some tiny holes… Disgraceful.
Radiator inside classroom No. 116, where 1 «B» studies; it used to be a gym.
— My older child studies at another school, — says one of the mothers. — And everything is fine there: it’s clean, the principal is at every parent meeting and on top of everything. There are almost 3,000 students — he knows each by name, and he always thanks the teachers for their work. So why is School No. 30 in such neglect…
«We’re being asked not to complain anymore»
The parents of 1 «B», having stirred up a federal scandal, unwilling to put up with lawlessness and lies — in their school in particular and in the education bureaucracy in general — were ready for tough resistance:
— For a whole month the Levoberezhny Department of Education asked us not to post anything online and not to give it to journalists — they knew about the situation, but did nothing. The city administration’s education office and its head, Olga Bakumenko, also knew — and also did nothing. And now third parties are passing along, as we understand it, the principal’s requests — not to complain anywhere else. So that what? So that everything gets quietly buried and forgotten?
On 23 September, the mothers and fathers of the 1 «B» first-graders sent a collective complaint to Alexander Bastrykin, chair of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR). They no longer believe promises. They wrote personally to Voronezh Mayor Sergey Petrin and personally to Governor Alexander Gusev via the officials’ pages on VKontakte — asking them to pay attention to the disgrace with School No. 30, attaching videos and a link to a publication on our site Voronezh1.ru. The mayor replied under his own name (at any rate, his portrait is next to the message): «The City Department of Education has taken the situation in this school under control. Measures will be taken as soon as possible» (21 September), and, in response to the parents’ pressure, added: «We see all the messages; colleagues will conduct a detailed review» (22 September). The governor did not answer the mothers and fathers — he delegated the honorable mission to the account of the Voronezh city administration. The account briskly reported: «As reported by the City Department of Education, the situation has been taken under control. Measures should be taken as soon as possible» (24 September).
On schools promising and otherwise
I hope the responses, on behalf of the officials, are still being written not by an internet puppet with a cyber-brain, but by a living, reasonable person — at least someone from the press office. Explaining to parents the duration of those “as soon as possible” timelines, I agree, would be too much. But the unsanitary conditions and dilapidation at the school despite millions documented as spent on repairs, and the principal’s unhealthy condition, and his manner of speech — all that undoubtedly needs to be looked into.
A toilet in School No. 30’s bathroom that seems ready for a plumbing ad.
And by the way. In the governor’s post under which the parents of 1 «B» of School No. 30 in Voronezh posted its wondrous vistas and a link to one of my articles, Alexander Gusev talks about creating in the region a «modern educational space — unified and accessible for children, convenient for parents and teachers» (quotation marks indicate a quote). He says that in the new academic year a project on the «Voronezh prospective school» has started here, and that our schools «continue to be equipped with modern equipment and to open real technoparks for students».
Well then. Let’s be happy for those schools and for the fact that Voronezh officials have places to send their own children to study, where they can take each other and bring Moscow officials to show off. And those like the 30th in «VAI» — they’re just not very promising: that’s life.
P. S. Despite the ongoing craziness, the first victory line has been held by the mothers and fathers of 1 «B»: they defended their teacher — an educator with vast experience and love for children. She, recall, was accused by officials of “not knowing how to work with parents” (supposedly that’s why they caused a scandal), and was forced to write a resignation letter. Yesterday it became known that principal Pavel Strepetov suddenly asked the teacher to withdraw her letter.
