Director from Blovice dismissed due to bullying: They wanted me to make a personal sacrifice

At the stormy meeting of the council in March, parents spoke and spoke about the bullying of their children. They submitted a petition with more than 400 signatures and demanded the dismissal of the director. Opposition arose after the publication of the case of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly abused by three classmates.

The city council subsequently dismissed Hitková, who is also a coalition representative for the Žijeme Blovice movement. He’s on sick leave now. At first she avoided the media. However, she has now provided written answers to the questions sent to Novinky. He claims that the city council simply succumbed to pressure. “I consider the council’s decision hasty and unfair. They succumbed to the pressure that we ignored and did not address the media-known bullying of our student,” she said.

“One representative told me that I should make a personal sacrifice to calm the situation. I didn’t do it voluntarily because I don’t think it was the right way,” she continued.

Appalling bullying at the school in Blovice: Pushing pencils up the ass, putting the trash in the trash

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The situation was also dealt with by the Czech School Inspectorate (ČŠI), which was contacted by the children’s parents. According to her conclusions, the school dealt with bullying inadequately. Karel Kovář, deputy of the ČSI, stated that it was necessary to stop the bullying in time, so that the aggressors did not think that they could continue it with impunity.

Councilor Pavel Vlach from the same party as Hitková came to a similar result. As the chairman of the school board, he conducted his own investigation even before the council, which coincided with the later conclusions of the ČSI. “I warned the director in advance that if my findings are confirmed by the inspection, which is an important control body, it is subject to appeal. It was certainly not under pressure,” he pointed out.

As the biggest problem, he identified systemically poorly configured things, including the functioning of the counseling workplace. “Bullying was just an outlet,” said Vlach. Deputy mayor Michal Hodek (Together for Blovice) added that the councilors stand behind the decision. He recalled that the result of the inspection played an important role.

Just Hitková sharply defined herself against him. “The inspection doesn’t say that bullying happened and that we didn’t deal with it. They talk about ineffective measures that were supposed to prevent possible bullying,” she wrote. She specified that they worked with the girl for a long time, she also got her own assistant.

But deputy Kovář refuted the quoted words. “The bullying was simply there. Otherwise, prevention programs would still work. We evaluated the complaints regarding the long-term failure to deal with bullying and the failure to ensure the student’s safe stay at school as reasonable,” he summarized.

A bullied girl from Blovice is afraid to go to school. Management failed, the inspection said

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According to him, the collective that the girl attended in the fifth grade was risky. It featured a number of verbal attacks and inappropriate behavior, especially by boys towards female classmates. Despite disciplinary measures, prevention programs and interventions, there was no improvement. “The record from the adaptation course in the sixth grade describes that the little girl and other students were under stress. They felt bad, they cried, some even left early,” he outlined.

The situation changed only last September, when the parents of a 13-year-old girl drew attention to the problems. She ended up in a parallel class. “Because the incidents continued during the breaks, she received continuous pedagogical supervision,” explained the deputy. According to the conclusions of the inspection, the school had a number of indications that testified to the mental discomfort of the student. Even so, it has not taken any effective measures until autumn 2023.

The former director requested an investigation because, according to her, the inspection did not hear all the cantors concerned. She also stated that the parents of the 13-year-old student reported the bullying only at the beginning of January. “So I couldn’t solve it retrospectively. But I immediately reported this case to the police,” she defended herself.

The parents of the 13-year-old girl only spoke about the bullying itself in January. The daughter did not confide in them until then. “We couldn’t interview all the teachers because some of them no longer work at the school,” Kovář responded to Hitková’s objection.

The sacked headmistress claims that the majority of the teaching staff is behind her. However, the Novinek editorial office has at its disposal two statements in which the cantors complained about their superior and her colleague. “Management is putting repeated public pressure on everyone to sign complaints and letters against the director’s dismissal. We only sign them out of concern, not just for our job,” the first document says.

In the second letter, the former teachers describe the reasons for their departure last year. According to them, Hitková behaved arrogantly, prevented them from accessing information, deliberately bypassed them when dealing with bullying or other matters. The teachers were divided into two camps, there was a bad atmosphere in the school.

Hitková wants to stay and teach at the school even after being dismissed from the position of principal.

Chaos reigned at the school after the dismissal of the principal in Blovice due to bullying. Cantors did not teach

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