What Was Said at the City Hall: A Teacher from Chekhov School Summarizes the Meeting

Teachers and parents from Yerevan's Chekhov School No. 55, who held a meeting at the City Hall's education department, stated after the session that the city administration is resolute in keeping Diana Minasian as the acting principal of Chekhov School until the principal election, which is scheduled for April 14. This was reported by News.am.

A teacher who attended the meeting told reporters, "I realized we have hit a dead end. They just told us they promise everything will be fine. That’s not a promise; it’s just a way to smooth things over right now. Their opinion was that perhaps the accountant can manage a good school. They say they liked Diana Minasian’s development program and their decision is not subject to change. We have decided that after the principal election on April 14, we will not remain silent."

As previously reported, today students, teachers, and parents from Chekhov School staged a protest in front of the City Hall. They are outraged that Diana Minasian, who participated in the first two rounds of the principal selection process and did not win, is currently fulfilling principal duties as of today, while the next round will take place on April 14.

The issue is that the official tenure of the school's former principal, Gayane Sarukhanyan, expired in December after five years. According to legislation, a competition was held in October where three candidates were nominated for the principal position: Gayane Sarukhanyan, the school's educational director Tatevik Melkonyan, and Diana Minasian, who does not work at the school but teaches at the Armenian State University of Economics.

According to reports, Diana Minasian's husband is a friend of former Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan. Three competitions were held, but no winner was recognized. The City Hall gave its votes to Diana Minasian, while the teaching staff and the parent committee cast their votes for Gayane Sarukhanyan, and only the representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science voted for Tatevik Melkonyan.

Since Gayane Sarukhanyan's tenure expired in December, her powers have ceased, and by the City Hall's decision, Tatevik Melkonyan was appointed as the acting principal. Since December, she has been serving as the interim principal, but she received a letter from the City Hall today instructing her not to sign anything as the acting principal, due to another person being appointed as the temporary head. This has been a surprise for the teaching staff and students, which has caused their outrage.

It should be noted that the new principal election will take place on April 14, with four candidates nominated: Tatevik Melkonyan, Diana Minasian, and two other teachers from different schools. According to legislation, the principal of the school is elected by a council consisting of nine members: two educators, two parents, and four representatives from the governing body, meaning from the City Hall, and one person from the ministry.