Court: Konarski School cannot form grades 11-12

The administrative Court in Vilnius rejected a request from the Szymon Konarski school community for the school’s reorganization.

Vice Prinicpal Krystyna Kratkowska told zw.lt that the school has yet to receive a written statement. The information they have thus far received comes from their lawyer.

Kratkowska is sure that the parents of students will carry on asserting their rights.

The school community, together with the School Defense Committee, will tomorrow consult on further measures to be taken, mainly concerning the prospect of lodging an appeal. According to the court’s decision, grades 11 and 12 cannot be formed at Konarski School.

Currently, students attend classes in the building of Konarski School but formally belong to Mickiewicz School. Teachers are conducting 11th and 12th grade classes =, but they are employed part-time in Adam Mickiewicz Gymnasium, which means that higher taxes are deducted  from their wages.

Problems with the school’s reorganization started in Spring 2015, when on the 1st April a former municipal council decided to transform the school into a primary school. AWPL (Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania) councillors voted for the high school’s transformation into a primary school.

On the 29th July, a new term municipal council took the decision to transform nine high schools in Vilnius, including Szymon Konarski School, into primary schools. This time AWPL councillors voted against re-organization. At the very beginning of the council session, AWPL representatives proposed not to address this matter for the time being as there were no adequate consultations with school communities conducted. However, the proposition was rejected.

A total of 25 of the councillors were for re-organization, while 14 voted against the proposal and 2 abstained from voting. The school community challenged this decision in court.

On 11th August 2015 the Administrative Court in Vilnius suspended the decision of the council, which did not permit the formation of grades 11-12 in this educational institution due to legal procedures. However, on 31st August 2015 the court revoked this decision and a day before the beginning of a new school year students had to be transferred to a different school.

In October Teresa Michajłowicz, the long-standing Principal of the school, handed in her resignation.