The incident, which is being investigated by the police on suspicion of disorderly conduct, occurred last Thursday afternoon when children were in the area. A man who worked as a temporary janitor in a kindergarten was mowing the grass in the garden. “But then you could see that he was not well. He bumped into things, rolled on the ground and made strange noises,” described one of the mothers, Renáta Valčikevičová, who helped the teachers get the children to kindergarten. She didn’t want them to look at men and was afraid for them.
Together with the teacher, she also called the police. Before the patrol arrived, director Jan Šebesta rushed at the janitor and beat the subordinate. According to police spokeswoman Nikol Bočková, two people underwent a subsequent police test for narcotic and psychotropic substances. “It came out positive for both,” she said.
One of those tested was a janitor, the other, according to the parents and mayoress Ferenčíková, was director Šebesta, who had been running the school since January. This surprised his colleagues, the children’s parents and the village management. “We never noticed anything. It’s reprehensible, absolutely unacceptable. The outrage is indescribable, it’s a huge disappointment, a huge mistrust, it’s…,” the mayor searched for words.
Jana Ošeldová, the deputy director who now manages the school, spoke similarly. “I really wouldn’t have thought of it, because he never had any fluctuations in behavior. He was rather quiet, usually typing something on the computer,” she described the director, adding that they did not often meet in the office.
Šebesta drew immediate conclusions from what happened last Thursday. He dismissed the schoolmaster and resigned himself on June 1. He is now taking a vacation.
The case stirred up a number of discussions on social networks. Among other things, it follows from them that the director and the janitor, whom he originally hired as a cook, were partners. “It also reached me,” one of the cantors from Doubrava told Novinka. She added that the two men commuted to school together by bus. What the children also noticed. “When he was here, he said that he ended the relationship with him,” revealed the mayor.
The school’s money disappeared
The janitor’s extempore, which led to the discovery of the use of narcotic substances by the janitor and the principal, is not the only thing that makes the police interested in the school. Police spokeswoman Bočková confirmed that property crime is also being investigated at the same school.
Photo: ZŠ and Kindergarten Doubrava
Primary school building in Doubrava in the Karvina region.
According to Novinek information, it is about machinations with school money. The municipality has already filed criminal charges for fraud and embezzlement. “There were some irregularities in the management of the school,” said the mayor about the case.
She did not want to name the culprit. “There are some clues, I think something about it, but I would leave it to the police.” Ferenčíková did not state the exact amount of the damage, it is supposed to be tens of thousands. “In any case, it’s not millions at this moment,” she pointed out, adding that more will be found out by the inspection that has begun.
Ferenčíková said that the deputy director Ošeldová alerted her to the irregularities. However, she does not agree with such an interpretation. According to her, the accountant was the first to inform the mayor about possible embezzlement sometime in the spring, but she left the school in the meantime.
“But nothing happened. When I asked the mayor, she told me that she had talked to the director about it and that he had promised to fix it. I found out that it didn’t happen after I returned from long-term sick leave,” she described.
Ošeldová did not want to specify what happened. “In short, money was being lost from the school account.” Originally, it was supposed to be a large amount, but then part of the money appeared back in the account. The representative is clear about who is the culprit. “Everything should go to Mr. Director,” she shrugged.
While there is a lot of debate among the residents of Doubrava about the drugged janitor and the positive test of the principal, the news about the machinations with school money surprised many parents. They learned about it at a meeting with the school management on Wednesday. “The fact that the director was withdrawing money was new. It is said that he falsified invoices, that around one hundred thousand crowns are missing,” indicated Valčikevičová, who blames the mayor for all of this.
Another large part of the population of Doubrava thinks the same way and therefore calls on Ferenčíková to resign. But she refuses. “I cannot be responsible for the failure of any individual. I have always acted in accordance with the law and I have not broken any. We appointed the director as a council, so I have not broken anything, I am acting in accordance with the law,” she repeated.
Novinká was unable to contact the director of Šebest. Nothing is known about him at his previous place of work, ZŠ Mládí in Orlová, nor his former comrades in SOCDEM. In the past, Šebesta unsuccessfully ran for the local council. The last time was in 2018. “Then he left the party and perhaps moved to Ostrava. We are not in contact at all,” pointed out the current chairman of SOCDEM in Orlová, Kamil Paloncy.
