Children are being held hostage again

The most scandalous story: a biology teacher, scientist, member of the jury of the Enlightener Prize, an excellent lecturer, known to many children as the “Pocket Scientist” (this is the name of the audio programs he creates for children on various scientific topics) Ilya Kolmanovsky was fired from the Moscow Lyceum “Second School” . He wrote about this on Facebook and told various publications. The reason was, as he said, letters to the school in connection with the fact that he participated in the picket on January 25 at the Duma against the bill banning the propaganda of homosexuality. Hooligans calling themselves Orthodox came out against the picketers, threw eggs at the crowd and provoked fights, but the police detained only the picketers. In letters to the school, the authors, calling themselves parents of children studying at the Second School, were indignant that Kolmanovsky allegedly “publicly declared himself a homosexual at a rally in defense of sexual minorities” (which is not true; Kolmanovsky tried to argue with his so-called opponents, proving how scientist that the sight of a same-sex couple kissing or information that homosexuality is not a deviation cannot cause a person to become homosexual). They argued that “this person does not belong among children” (thus equating homosexuality with pedophilia), and threatened to contact government authorities if the school did not heed.

The school listened. First, the head teacher of the school, Alexander Kovaldzhi, wrote, to put it mildly, a strange letter to the intended parents, which said that “I. Kolmanovsky is an excellent family man, he has a wonderful wife and two daughters, and there are no rumors that he is “playing” on the side. there was no trace” that Kolmanovsky acted “stupidly”, that he was getting into trouble for himself, but “the ricochet gets to everyone around him”, and promised to “knock the stupidity out of the young man.” Then, according to Kolmanovsky himself, the school director Vladimir Ovchinnikov announced that he was firing him.

All this became known on the evening of January 28 and caused a storm on Facebook and some media. Already on the morning of January 29, RIA Novosti reported that, according to Ovchinnikov, no one fired Kolmanovsky. In a conversation with Kolmanovsky earlier, the director insisted that he could be easily fired since he was not on staff. He managed to say approximately this to the magazine “Big City”: they say that Kolmanovsky’s dismissal is forced and formal, since the school has finally found a biologist on staff. Now he states that Kolmanovsky worked and will work at the school.

It is appropriate to note that the Second School in the 1960s was considered one of the best schools in Moscow; outstanding teachers taught here, both mathematicians (Israel Gelfand) and physicists (Yuri Klimontovich), as well as literature teachers (Viktor Kamyanov). However, during the fight against dissent in 1971, the school was virtually destroyed. Vladimir Ovchinnikov, its first director, did not escape dismissal. Before this, back in 1968, literature teacher Anatoly Yakobson, a famous philologist, one of the members of the Initiative Group organized by Soviet dissidents, was forced to leave the school of his own free will.

The school nevertheless continued to exist, and in 2002 Ovchinnikov returned to the post of director. It should be noted that today, in the context of the adoption of a monstrous law on education, all so-called unusual schools are actually hanging by a thread - the same Kolmanovsky wrote about this on Facebook. They can easily be closed or merged with another school, and their special program can be curtailed. It is known that the Second School fought against the law on education, in particular, the above-mentioned head teacher Alexander Kovaldzhi spoke out very sharply. Directors' fear is understandable. And yet, the extreme ones, as has already happened, were the children from whom a unique teacher was taken away (or at least tried to be taken away, if the director still does not fire him). Well, the most shameful law, as it turned out, is already in effect, although it was adopted by the Duma only in the first reading. And finally, for those who most likely will not hear this: at the picket, Kolmanovsky did, in particular, what the school teaches - he defended the weak.