Due to the lack of places, the Nepomucká primary school had to reject 14 catchment children last year, and the situation is getting worse every year. “As an acute solution, it will probably be necessary to redraw the catchment areas, because, for example, there are a few places in Grafická, Motol and Jinonice, but even that is only possible for two to three years,” adds former mayor Daniel Mazur.

The mayor is facing a difficult decision

However, the opposition is concerned that the management of the town hall will do everything in its power to prevent the grammar school from having to do so, and may adopt an inefficient, more expensive and disadvantageous solution for the citizens of Prague 5. “It is a clear conflict of interest, and although Mayor Zajíčková reported this conflict herself, it has now become topical,” Daniel Mazur tells the Prague daily.

“And although she promised not to participate in the decision-making regarding her school, on Tuesday she submitted a proposal to the council to reject our item on the agenda, where we wanted to open a discussion on this. The problem of capacity in this area has long been obvious, and although I do not think that trying to defend my school was the only reason for the mayor’s entry into politics, it was certainly not a negligible reason. “

According to Daniel Mazur, he understands that the mayor is in a difficult situation. According to him, if he resorts to resignation or termination of the contract with the city, it will be a great personal sacrifice that is worth admiring. “But she could have predicted this situation in the past,” says the deputy.

“I am open to all solutions”

However, Mayor Renáta Zajíčková sees in the accusations only an ordinary political struggle and an attempt by the opposition to gather a political body. “When I ran for the council, I openly talked about my potential conflict of interest with the citizens and then with my colleagues in the council,” she told the Prague daily Zajíčková. “I am open to any solution and I do not oppose the possibility of evacuating the building in favor of the primary school, if the deputies so decide. But you don’t make sense to talk about it until we have all the necessary information and options ahead of us. “

The building itself is then located at a rather busy intersection on Plzeňská Street, which might not be safe for young pupils. “Parents did not want to send their children to this locality, which is evidenced by the fact that in 2011, when it was still a primary school, only 45 children came here,” the mayor recalls. In September, the town hall management wants to present to the council four variants of resolving the crisis in Košíře, including the possibility of vacating the building of a private grammar school.

“However, it is not mentioned anywhere that 50% of our students are also from Prague 5, and then they will have to go further to school,” recalls Renáta Zajíčková, mayor of Prague 5 and owner of the private Grammar School of International and Public Relations Josef Škvorecký.

Is the mayor in the public interest?

However, the whole case put pressure on the coalition, especially on the ODS and TOP 09. On May 25, Deputy Mayor Nadežda Priečinská resigned from her contribution, who was critical of the mayor’s approach. “Mayor Zajíčková is boasting that we gave her our trust in the coalition on May 11, but at the time the mayor’s conflict of interest was not resolved at all, and we did not yet have all the necessary information about her contract with the city and the situation in Košíře.

“The fact that the mayor will not take part in this vote is nice, but in this way she exposes her colleagues to an awkward situation where she has to choose between loyalty to the party and her leadership on the one hand and some of her values ​​on the other. In any case, until Mayor Zajíčková resolves her conflict of interest, the citizens of Prague 5 will not be sure whether their mayor is deciding in their interest or in the interest of herself and her school. “

TOP 09 remains in the coalition for the time being, but its members presented the mayor with 5 points needed to survive the existing cooperation. These mainly concern greater transparency of the mayor and her activities in connection with the ownership of a private grammar school and a serious consideration of the situation in Košíře and all available solutions.