Bauska delays school merger after entire leadership resigns

Bauska Municipality Council has postponed a decision to merge Bauska Basic School with Bauska Secondary School No. 2 after the basic school’s entire leadership resigned, LSM reported.

The decision was deferred until a new principal is found. The council hopes new leadership could change plans to reorganise the school and attract more pupils.

The number of pupils in the school’s grades 7 to 9 does not meet the required indicators, and current forecasts show no positive trend. The school’s principal and both deputy principals submitted their resignations last week.

The principal cited uncertainty about the school’s future and the inability to work under a heavy workload without support as reasons for leaving.

In May, the municipality decided that six schools should be reorganised because their pupil numbers did not meet criteria set by the government. Bauska Basic School was initially scheduled to be merged with Bauska Secondary School No. 2, but the decision was postponed for a year. The school was to be monitored until the end of 2026 to assess whether it met national quality criteria and determine further action.

A May council decision also instructed the principal to open, by September 1, a special education programme for pupils with intellectual disabilities and provide it in as many special classes as possible.