“Mobilize your mayors” vs “without a metropolitan area we have lost opportunities”

The intervention of a parent who asked to solve the congestion in which the students of Secondary School no. 18 in Sibiu triggered a series of arguments between mayor Astrid Fodor and Adrian Bibu about how to solve the issue of insufficient classes in the municipality’s schools.

Marius Giligan lives on Lungă street and his child is a student in one of the six classes into which the first grade students who study at School no. 18. This is the first school in Sibiu expanded with European funds to eliminate afternoon classes, a “miracle” that only lasted five years (the period in which projects financed by European non-reimbursable funds must work according to what is written in the funding application – after the five years, afternoon classes were again introduced at School No. 18).

“From 900 students we reached 984 in four years. We started the preparatory class at the end of the hall. We pressed and momentarily the children were moved to the school library. The laboratories were abandoned, the teachers abandoned the chancellery. We will probably end up turning the toilets into classrooms. We have a request from 90 eighth grade parents who want their children to have morning classes. In 2022, the school requested two containers for setting up classrooms, but it was refused, now there is another request that has not received a response”, Marius Giligan described the situation.

Marius Giligan shared with the local councilors information about the situation of Secondary School no. 18

He proposed as a solution to reduce crowding either the location of some containers in which to set up classrooms, or the setting up of such rooms in the Apă-Canal building, from which the school is separated by a fence. This in the conditions in which the Apă-Canal company is currently running a project to fit out a new headquarters.

Also supported by Diana Mureșan, USR local councilor member of the Board of Directors of School no. 18, the option of setting up some classrooms in the Water-Canal headquarters “will be analyzed”, Astrid Fodor pointed out. Which showed that just last week, the vice-mayor Mihai Onițiu, in charge of schools, and Simona Pop, head of the service through which the City Hall manages the school infrastructure in the city, visited School no. 18 precisely to identify solutions.

Pop: “I even did eighth grade in the afternoon and got to where I am”

Vice-mayor Mihai Onitiu did not say a word about last week’s discussions, instead Simona Pop spoke. “Indeed the school asked us for two or three containers and we considered it appropriate not to just sit in the office and actually I went with Mr. Deputy Mayor and visited each classroom step by step. The one at the end of a hall is no longer a classroom. I congratulated the school representatives for the solutions found”, began Simona Pop.

According to her, things will be resolved by the fact that the school library will be divided so that the students who have class there will no longer disturb those who come to read or participate in the reading circles and that, as far as the chancellery is concerned, the teachers are satisfied with the fact that they have been set up a space where they can “make coffee and sit for stories”. Finally, Simona Pop appreciated that solving the situation at School no. 18 “possibly reduced to a container”. “The version with canal water was told to us by the director, and we think it’s the best.”

Later, Simona Pop read several passages from the regulations that regulate enrollment in schools and the operation of classes. This in the context in which he emphasized that children from other localities are brought to that school, after the parents obtain a floating visa in the area.

Simona Pop, director of the Public Administration Service for state pre-university education units

Simona Pop also showed, quoting from the legislation, that schools are responsible for the “foundation and elaboration of the schooling plan” and that principals should propose as classrooms only those for which they have operating authorizations. “If they have 27 classes, why do we register 39 classes, how many does School no. 18 now?”, continued Simona Pop. She also said that the School Inspectorate can reconfigure school districts so that some children are assigned to less crowded schools. After which he showed that from the 2029-2030 school year, the law stipulates that the primary cycle must operate only in the morning, the secondary cycle “usually with a morning program”, and the VIIIth classes, mandatory in the morning.

According to Simona Pop, out of the 25 schools and high schools with secondary classes in Sibiu, in 13 of them students go to school in two shifts. Which shouldn’t really be a tragedy. “I even completed the eighth grade in the afternoon and got where I got to,” Simona Pop gave her personal example.

Fodor: “Sibiu can no longer access European funds for the expansion of schools”

Mayor Astrid Fodor brought up the fact that, in fact, the overcrowding of schools in Sibiu is caused by the disinterest of the administrations around the city, which did not invest in building new schools despite the increase in population. “At School no. 18 we have children from Avrig, from Agnita, so not only from around Sibiu. To build schools in the neighboring towns as well, not just 10- and 12-story blocks. For years I have been talking about the school infrastructure around Sibiu, but, mainly for political reasons, nothing is done”.

While the neighboring towns are increasing, the population of Sibiu municipality is continuously decreasing, and this has a direct effect on the funds for the school infrastructure. “We cannot access European funds because the demographic figures do not help us,” said Fodor, giving the floor to Ioana Leca, the city’s public administrator.

“In the new financial framework, for accessing funds in order to expand the school infrastructure, according to the evaluation grid, Sibiu loses many points, because statistically we do not register a demographic increase by age group”, Ioana Leca pointed out.

Bibu: “I’ll give you a strategy in two weeks”

In the prolonged discussions, Adrian Bibu intervened, who in his speech also assumed the status of a candidate for the City Hall, not just that of a local councilor. “I was happy to hear the number 1 of Sibiu, the mayor, and the right hand of number 1, the public administrator, and the number 1 man on the schools of Sibiu. But the problem that man represents today is not only at School 18, but at the entire system in the municipality. I would expect from Mrs. Director Pop not to scold either these people that there are too many or those around Sibiu that too many come to study here. The PNL group insisted from the first year that we make the metropolitan area,” said Adrian Bibu, recalling the “tough” negotiations that were needed for such an association to finally be officially registered.

It’s just that, Adrian Bibu also pointed out, the metropolitan area is – for the time being – a formal structure only, in which mayor Astrid Fodor refuses to involve the Sibiu administration. “You elected the mayor of Rășinari as president of the metropolitan area, even if the mayor of Rășinari – with all good intentions – has an undersized apparatus. How come the mayor of Sibiu did not assume this position as president of the metropolitan area so that we negotiate with all the mayors in the area to negotiate a strategy and a vision to see what we have to do, to build schools in the surrounding towns as well? Let’s not give a container or two”, continued Bibu.

He criticized the attitude of the Serbian administration to “put out fires” instead of providing a short, medium and long term strategy. “I will give you this strategy in two weeks and – regardless of whether I come out as mayor – you can use it and you will see how quickly things can be solved. And we are not talking about containers, but modular buildings. Which can solve the problem in the short term. One that has a lot of implications: it also has an impact on the sports side, if we still talked about sports in this meeting. Because of the afternoon hours, students can no longer participate in sports activities”.

Astrid Fodor admitted that, in the long term, the solution is to build new schools and explained why she did not seek to be, for the time being, at the head of the Sibiu metropolitan area. “I lead an association (metropolitan transport – no) and each of the five mayors of the metropolitan area’s governing council take over the presidency for a year. So we all have a turn for a year. Maybe next year the mayor of Şelimbăr will be the president. I am convinced that a strong PNL mayor will be able to act in this direction”.

Astrid Fodor said that “for years” she has been waiting for the mayors of the towns around Sibiu to build new schools

Bibu: “You weren’t at the meeting.” Fodor: “I sure didn’t look at the stars”

Adrian Bibu insisted on the fact that the mayor of Sibiu has another force in imposing certain directions within the metropolitan area. And he recalled the first meeting this year of the Sibiu mayors within the metropolitan area, which took place in the Şelimbăr headquarters of this association. “Two weeks ago there was a first meeting, I went, I didn’t see you in the gym, you probably had other work. A mayor of Sibiu has a different strength than the mayors of the surrounding towns: European funds can be taken with the support of Sibiu for the construction of schools in the neighboring towns. Both at the City Hall and at the County Council we have “rocket people” on European funds.

Astrid Fodor replied that, in fact, it is only an impression that the Sibiu City Hall would have a bureaucratic apparatus sufficient to take over the tasks of the metropolitan area. And that he did not participate in the first meeting of the metropolitan area, having other priorities. “It’s your expectations, I had a different schedule, I certainly didn’t stay at the town hall and look at the stars. We have an undersized device, see how many positions are unoccupied, we work with a minimum of staff. And projects can be done if proposals come from these municipalities. So the mayors who are there know what they have to do, don’t underestimate them”, Astrid Fodor pointed out. Ioana Leca also came to his support: she showed that the development association through which the metropolitan area will have to function must hire its own apparatus through which to run the metropolitan projects.

“Yes, but we have so far lost opportunities due to the lack of a metropolitan area,” Bibu pointed out. Fodor wanted to have the last word. “Mobilize your mayors”.

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