Three candidates submitted their applications for the employment contest for the position of director of the "Prometeu-Prim" high school, in Chisinau. They stood before an interview committee on Tuesday, August 13. According to the committee, a decision regarding the selected candidate will be taken over the course of the following days. The committee did not offer a specific date.

The contest takes place after the headmaster and the main founder of the high school, Aurelian Silvestru, was dismissed from office by order of the other two founders, approved within the Founders Council, at the beginning of July. The high school teachers claim that both the decision to dismiss the headmaster and the organization of the employment contest are illegal due to the absence of the former director who, at the time of his dismissal was on annual leave, and due to the fact that the teaching staff on vacation.

Constantin Mariniuc, deputy director at "Prometeu-Prim", says he is not in the know regarding the reason for the dismissal of Aurelian Silvestru, yet unofficial sources suggest that the justification would be reaching the 65 year age limit for this position. The deputy director says that, at the beginning of July,  he was presented with an order signed by the third founder of the high school, Stepan Cioclea, by which the former headmaster was already dismissed, without an invoked reason. He was offered the job, yet he refused.

Constantin Mariniuc claims that it is not very clear how the contest committee members were selected. "The contest was organized at the initiative of one of the founders, Stepan Cioclea. However, how the commission was selected is a taboo. I don't know how this thing came about. As far as I understand, the ministry is not involved in the committee member selection”, concludes Constantin Mariniuc. At the same time, he assumes that the developments could have been driven by business interests, yet he does not want to make hasty conclusions.

Angela Lungu, a Romanian language and literature teacher at the "Prometeu-Prim" high school, says that employment contest participants are not part of the high school's teaching staff and that she found out about the contest for the position of headmaster from social media. "I don't think any of my colleagues would have applied for the position, because they are certain that Aurelian Silvestru runs this institution very well. He has been active for 28 years and in many respects he has anticipated, with more than 10 years ahead of time, what the education reform would entail for Moldova”, said Angela Lungu.

The teachers say that another attempt to dismiss Aurelian Silvestru happened in 2002. The attempt failed following a court decision in favor of Aurelian Silvestru. The current dismissal decision was also appealed in court, on grounds that it is unfounded. In this regard, the Centru District Court is due to make a ruling on Wednesday, August 14, starting at 09.00 o'clock.

Nicu Roman, one of the founders and current high school acting director, says that he took over the job after the founders' meeting that decided to appoint him to the position. He refused to explain the reasons behind Aurelian Silvestru's dismissal, yet he said that it was something that only concerns the three founders. "It was a conflict situation. The conflict involves Mr. Silvestru and it occurred because he does not want to leave the position of director”, declared Nicu Roman.

According to him, the decision to dismiss Aurelian Silvestru was made at the founders' meeting, who are three in number, Aurelian Silvestru among them. Mr. Silverstru was not present at the meeting, of which he was informed. "Thus, with about 90% of the votes, (the two founders) took the decision to dismiss him. Aurelian Silvestru's share is 11%”.

The interim director highlights that Aurelian Silvestru was on annual leave as headmaster, not as a founder. He avoided saying how the headmaster employment committee members were selected and who are they, due to "security reasons". "Yes, we organized this contest, yet we prefer not to talk about it", said the founder.

Nicu Roman considers that the candidates are "impressive". According to him, they have the necessary skills, qualifications and vision for education, thus selecting a single person will be a pretty difficult decision to make.

Even though the contest was public, media representatives were not allowed to record video footage or take photos.