“After 21 years of work, I brought 30 million PLN to the city and lost my job. I am very bitter about this behavior,” said Aleksandra Sawicka-Kowalczyk, former director of primary school 130 in Łódź, in an interview with the Łódź editorial office of “Gazeta Wyborcza”. The parents of the school’s students defend Sawicka-Kowalczyk, who was removed from her position as director. “We have the impression that the headmistress was deliberately and intentionally removed from the position of school director because she received money from the PiS government,” they emphasize. PiS MEP Waldemar Buda also spoke.
“Gazeta Wyborcza” from Łódź describes the situation of Aleksandra Sawicka-Kowalczyk, former director of a small primary school. “Former director” because she recently lost her position. Parents of the school’s pupils, who disagree with this course of events, believe that the reason for the dismissal of director Sawicka-Kowalczyk was… to obtain money for the expansion of the school. Last year, the PiS government, by decision of then-minister Waldemar Buda,…
Parents plead for former director
For two years I tried in vain in the city to get money to expand the school, finally I got it from Minister Buda of PiS and… I lost my position
– says the dismissed director in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza.
Parents of students express their concerns about the city council’s decisions.
Principal Aleksandra Sawicka-Kowalczyk has retired, but as far as we know, she is not the only principal who is said to have retired. The Education Department of the Łódź City Hall announced a competition for the principal, which surprisingly took place a week before the holidays, and Mrs. Aleksandra was the only candidate. We have the impression that the principal was deliberately and consciously removed from the position of principal because she received money from the PiS government (…). The principal fought for two years to receive money for the expansion of the school and innovative facilities. It received money from the PiS government in October 2023 and the money was transferred to one of the most innovative schools in the region. Throughout her tenure, the principal was a respected and beloved person in the school and the local community. She had great success with our children
– we read.
A petition was also drawn up in defense of Sawicka-Kowalczyk, signed by 296 people.
The position of the Łódź authorities
The spokesman for the mayor of Łódź, Paweł Śpiechowicz, claims that Aleksandra Sawicka-Kowalczyk was dismissed from the post of school principal at her request on February 12 this year, and that Agata Pielacińska-Gręda took over the duties of the principal from February 13.
On June 14, 2024, a competition was held for the position of director. The minutes of the meeting of the competition committee show that the candidate for the position of director of primary school No. 130. Marshal Józef Piłsudski in Łódź (Mrs. Aleksandra Sawicka-Kowalczyk) did not receive an absolute majority of the votes of the current committee members. Therefore, the competition was not resolved
– says Śpiechowicz in an interview with “GW”, explaining that the position was subsequently entrusted to the candidate “agreed with the body exercising pedagogical supervision, after obtaining the advice of the pedagogical council”, Angelika Świtaj-Lato, for the period from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2029.
President Hanna Zdanowska’s spokesperson also said that the education department has not yet received any reports from parents expressing doubts about the choice of the director.
She only wanted to remain in office until the school was expanded
I have a grudge against the director of the Education Department of the Lodz City Hall, with whom I had agreed that I would remain the director of the school. That is why I applied for my retirement, because the intention was that I would return to this position. Moreover, I would not be the only retired headmaster in Łódź
– says Aleksandra Sawicka-Kowalczyk, explaining that she hoped to remain in the position until August 2026, when the school’s expansion would be completed.
She wanted to open an institution and then retire. She didn’t get the required number of votes, even though… she was the only candidate in the competition…
After 21 years of work I brought 30 million PLN to the city and lost my job. I am very angry about this behavior. I got money with a concrete stone around my neck, even though I tried to get it honestly. I do not identify myself with any authority. If the devil himself gave me this money, I would take it
– she said, adding that she had been awarded many times for her work.
Buda: It’s heartbreaking, it’s just meanness
Waldemar Buda, former Minister of Development and Technology and PiS member since June, spoke on the issue.
It is heartbreaking, it is just pure meanness. PLN 30 million will allow the construction of a beautiful new school. If this brings you back, Madam Director, you can say that the city received money from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, hang his image there and not invite me to the opening. As long as the school is built and the director goes back to work
– wrote on X.
aja/Wyborcza.pl, X
Source: wPolityce