Before School Year Starts, Jovan Gymnasium Doesn't Know Who Will Teach or Where Classes Will Be Held

With the school year looming, uncertainty grips Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Gymnasium as the status of suspended professors and class locations remains unclear. A court has ordered four of the five professors suspended at the end of the last academic year to return to their positions, yet the school administration has offered no communication or guidance.

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We haven't received any message, call - nothing from the school. We don't know how far this has progressed, so we hope it will be resolved very soon, because the court has definitively decided that we are innocent on this issue.

Dragan Vulić, a German language teacher, stated that neither the school nor any representatives have contacted the professors since the court's ruling. He expressed hope for a swift resolution, emphasizing that the court deemed them innocent in this matter. However, the school has yet to formally reinstate them, and the disciplinary proceedings, initially scheduled for June 1, were postponed due to the director's illness and have not since commenced.

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So, we haven't been returned, the school still needs to return us. This is a temporary measure order, pending the conclusion of the disciplinary procedure which has not even started because it was scheduled for June 1 - the director fell ill then and the procedure was never initiated.

Sociology professor Marija Vasić highlighted the lack of clarity regarding their employment status, noting that the court's decision is a temporary measure pending disciplinary action that hasn't even begun. She also pointed out the broader confusion affecting students, parents, and remaining staff, who are unaware of teaching assignments or even where classes will take place just a week before the academic year starts.

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Unfortunately, that is already a demonstrated tactic by the director - he does not inform either the professors or his assistants where the classes will be held - everyone is in uncertainty.

Vasić further questioned the status of the fifth suspended professor, Biljana Prlina, who is also the union president. Vasić noted the legal ambiguity surrounding her suspension and her long-term contract. The director, Radivoje P. Stojković, has not responded to inquiries from N1 Serbia, leaving the school community in suspense.

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She is very interesting - the president of the union. It is very questionable whether she could have been suspended at all. What is also interesting - she has a fixed-term contract for 14 years already.