Principal of Primary School "Drinka Pavlović": "I submit my irrevocable resignation"

Principal of Primary School "Drinka Pavlović": "I submit my irrevocable resignation"

In the official announcement, Principal Vasić states that on Wednesday, May 10, she submitted her irrevocable resignation from the position of school principal for "deeply personal reasons".

Immediately before the resignation of the principal, TV host Milica Kon brought to the public the case of her daughter, a student of Elementary School "Drinka Pavlović", who, as she claims, suffered peer violence in this school.

Just to reiterate that Milica Kon talked about the case of violence in a TV show.

"What is normal?! Our daughter is in the first grade and only now after this tragedy did all the peer violence come to light. You don't know how the school deals with it, what normal are we talking about?! Seven years old, our daughter, one holds her, the other hits her with fists. It doesn't just happen to her, it happens to everyone," said Milica. She added:

"In the state school, they say: 'It is about the law'. Our hands are tied. I am a lawyer by profession, but I am not competent in that branch of law. The teachers take sick leave and run away! They have no authority. We have a child who comes to school with a knife and that has been known for a long time, and nobody can do anything to him because his father is a lawyer," said Milica Kon in the show.

The director responded with a statement then, and today she announced herself again. At the end of the announcement, she states "Director in resignation" in her signature.

"On Wednesday, May 10, I submitted my irrevocable resignation from the position of school director for deeply personal reasons. The tragedy that happened deeply shook me, as well as every citizen in this country. For a whole week, I endured unprecedented pressure, threats, and with my team I fought as much as I could", wrote Vasić.

In a detailed statement, she explains how the whole case went.

"I believe that every problem of every child is solved in institutions, not in the media. Since we are affected by half-truths that have been brought to the public, I am obliged to say what is true and what is not," she begins in the announcement and continues:

"It is true that there is a problem in one class of the first grade, it is about incidents that were committed by one student and for each incident every parent is informed at the same time. Reinforced educational work for the student who initiates the incidents, as well as the Class Community Protection Plan for that class was in effect. Workshops, conversations with the psychologist, the pedagogue and both teachers are immediately implemented."

As she says, the evaluation of that work shows that the problems continue.

"For this reason, the head of the department schedules a parents' meeting at which I, as the school director, the head of the department who leads the meeting, another teacher from full-time classes and the school's pedagogue attend. That parents' meeting was held on November 7, 2022, and the principal of the school explain to the parents that labeling and stigmatizing any child is not good and is prohibited and that we must cooperate and find tools that will lead to the student's fitting in and adapting to the daily teaching work", states the principal of Elementary School "Drinka Pavlović" in her statement.

Vasić also says that the school pedagogue and the teacher give parents specific tools that parents and their children will apply at home. Workshops and discussions in the psychological-pedagogical service continue, she adds.