Translated material
Lawlessness in the 70th gymnasium
My glorious son Ilya turns 7 years old on May 26, and as prudent parents, Svetlana and I took care of his enrollment in school within a year. We live on Serov Street, and within walking distance there are three schools: gymnasium 70, lyceum 3 and school 175. The option of transporting a child far away was not considered - it was a pity to waste a lot of time standing in traffic jams.
Even though my teaching experience is small, and it’s unlikely that a university associate professor can draw unambiguous conclusions about the developmental characteristics of preschoolers, our Ilya seems to us to be a developed child. He began reading aloud at the age of 4, at 5 he began to master the Internet (he learned to find flash games through search engines), and in kindergarten he enjoyed learning English. Now my son is almost seven - he reads and writes confidently and fluently, and has acquired counting skills. He and I love to do experiments in physics and chemistry, and we can easily play monopoly.
In general, school No. 175 disappeared immediately. Google tells us the only detail - the school is famous for its lessons taught by Scientology sectarians ; neighbors and acquaintances reported much more, pointing out the obvious fact that many children from the famous Roma village study at the school, with all the ensuing consequences.
The child’s social circle is of enormous importance: I cannot send my only son to the first school I come across.
Lyceum No. 3 enjoys a good reputation: it seems to have an excellent initial level, the study of natural sciences is at a good level. It is probably useful for a child to know and understand the natural scientific picture of the world order; after all, I myself followed this path at one time, took first place at regional chemistry Olympiads for two years in a row, and then brilliantly (94 points out of 100) entered the Faculty of Chemistry USU and Chemical-Pharmaceutical Academy in St. Petersburg. But, once at the chemistry department, I quickly reconsidered my attitude towards chemical science, realizing the futility of studying it in Russia, and chose the humanitarian path.
As a result, our choice of educational institution for our son fell on the 70th language gymnasium. I’ll say right away that the reputation of the 70 is imperfect. Parents of students or children who have recently studied there talk about constant extortion, stratification of children based on property, and a lack of discipline due to the connivance of management. One respected doctor of science told me that she took her son out of this school because he was constantly beaten, and no one cared.
But where today are there no extortions, property stratification and schoolchildren’s clashes? In general, we decided to prepare the child for admission.
To begin with, we signed up for preparatory courses, which we attended for six months, practically without absences, two evenings a week. The fee for the courses is small - for six months we paid only 15 thousand rubles (of course in cash, without checks and receipts, this is on the conscience of the administration). The teachers really worked with the children, and overall we were satisfied with the speech and English language development classes. We saw the results of the training in the courses, as well as the teachers, who spoke positively about the child’s abilities and unequivocally stated that the gymnasium needs such children. And now - the final, the courses have come to an end, and the city Department of Education has decided on the procedure for admission to schools.
Oops! The house we live in is assigned to school No. 175. The neighboring houses are next to the 70th gymnasium, and ours is next to a regular school. Officials have not left a single alternative - there are simply no legal mechanisms for admission to status schools. Just two years ago, the issue was resolved with the help of preparatory courses and an “entrance fee”; friends quoted amounts from several tens of thousands to a million rubles (a million for the most “central” school, as you understand). A year ago, residents of the microdistrict could choose one school from three nearby ones, submitting applications on a first-come, first-served basis. There were night stands, crushes, fights. People hired private security companies to break through the doors of prestigious gymnasiums. An ugly, of course, but understandable mechanism.
This year there is no alternative. Schools are accepted only if they have registration in the territory assigned to the institution. There are any number of cases, including in the 70th gymnasium: parents see that the child “can’t cope”, or they set their sights on the same 3rd lyceum, attending courses there. But they are assigned to the 70s, and they are not accepted into the “desirable” schools. It is supposed to accept “other people’s” children after they accept “our own”. In general, there is no chance.
What to do, the law is harsh, stupid, but this is the Law, we are not able to change it. So you have to obey. According to existing standards, a child is guaranteed to be accepted if he is registered in the territory assigned to the school. Moreover, he must be registered together with one of the parents, due to cohabitation.
In general, we had to rent an apartment on Furmanova 127 again, the same one where we lived from May to October last year. We decided to combine business with pleasure: move to Furmanova and finish the renovation of our apartment on Serova. By the way, Furmanova 127 is five times further from the gymnasium than our house on Serov, that’s how the “microdistricts” were cut up. We rented an apartment and registered in it, as required by the Law.
We strictly followed the procedure established by current legislation. On the very first day of accepting applications, we submitted a complete package and received a receipt for acceptance of documents numbered 24. We went to wait the 15 days allotted by law for the decision on enrollment. However, we had to wait a little longer: the organizational meeting of parents of future first-graders took place on May 16, in the evening. During registration, parents received documents - some received files with an application form, an agreement to study at the gymnasium and a receipt for paying a “charitable contribution”, others received refusals to enroll. They didn't give us anything.
During the meeting, the director of the gymnasium, Olga Vasilievna Paderina, announced the figures: in total, the Founder (the Administration of Yekaterinburg) obliged to admit 100 first-graders. However, she (the director) does not agree with this decision, since there are not enough teachers, etc. I am ready to accept 75 children - no more.
Second. The gymnasium accepted 118 applications for admission to the first grade. Of these, 56 children attended courses and have “permanent registration”; it was these lucky children who received packages of documents for enrollment. Another 19 children are planned to be selected from those who have “permanent registration” but have not attended courses. For selection purposes, children will be tested on Saturday, May 19, at 10 am. The rest are free.
Arguments about the illegality of any testing of first-graders, about the absence in the legislation of the concepts of “temporary” and “permanent” “registration” and the equivalence of registration at the place of residence and stay had no effect on the director. “Last year I paid fines, and I will pay them this year,” summarized O.V. Paderin, thereby confirming the illegality of his actions and his readiness to incur administrative punishment. After the meeting, the director took charge and hosted a reception for parents in her office. She directly told me that there was no chance and there would be a refusal, regardless of laws and other circumstances.
Now the fork. I will omit the points related to discussions on the topic “How will a child study at school from where he is kicked out at the start?” Svetlana and I decided to go to the end. We studied the regulatory framework under a microscope. There are no grounds for refusal and there cannot be any. However, there is no “refusal” paper yet either, so it’s too early to go to court. In the morning, they began to look for those same advertised “conflict commissions” under the Education Department, designed to resolve controversial situations with admission to schools. It turned out that the commission met only for one day - May 16, and a priori we did not have a chance to go there, since the meeting took place in the evening of the same day. But we were accepted into the City University of Education and Science, studied the documents and unequivocally stated: our child WILL BE ACCEPTED in the first grade of gymnasium No. 70, there are no grounds for refusal and there cannot be.
Today is May 19th, and my son and I went for testing. Even though it was illegal and we weren’t actually invited, we still went. They took two pens, sharpened colored pencils, secured it all with a rubber band for money and stomped away.
We arrive and are immediately handed a refusal dated May 20 (not yet Sunday):
There are now several options:
1. Seek enrollment in school through the court. The chances are high. But at the same time, it is necessary to seek punishment for the director Olga Vasilievna Paderina, who caused the chaos, through the prosecutor’s office and the education department.
2. Look for another decent school. Pay bribes “entrance fees”, because there are no legal mechanisms, spend a couple of hours every day delivering the child there and back, cursing everyone and everything.
3. Resign yourself and go for “permanent registration” - to school 175.
Let's choose the first option!