Kuldīga municipality suspends Viduskurzeme school director

The director of Viduskurzeme Primary School-Development Centre, Ināra Oļena, has been suspended while Kuldīga municipality examines concerns about her work, LSM reports. The school educates children and young people with mental disabilities.

Complaints from current and former staff over the past year have focused mainly on what they described as humiliating treatment by Oļena and an authoritarian management style. More than 10% of the school’s employees left during the academic year.

Music teacher Eva Burke-Burkevica said she had seen a colleague leave after experiencing the director’s authoritarian approach. Another teacher, Ēriks Oficiers, said he had not experienced bullying or hostility and described Oļena as demanding, saying that order was important.

A staff survey found differing views on the issue. Although the school and its director were due to undergo accreditation next spring, the municipality requested an earlier assessment of Oļena’s professional work. It concluded in September.

The State Education Quality Service said an expert commission rated her performance “insufficient” in two areas: administrative effectiveness, and support and cooperation. The municipality has appointed an acting director while it reviews the findings.

Kuldīga municipality executive director Rimants Safonovs said the review covers staffing, administrative and legal matters, educational processes and targeted funding.

Oļena rejects the allegations, saying the municipality deliberately sought shortcomings in the school’s innovative teaching approaches for young people with mental disabilities. She appealed a reprimand issued by the municipality, and a court annulled it.