The matter in summary: Glommasvingen school in Skarnes in Inlandet has had three principals in less than five years, and the municipality is now looking for a new one. The school has had frequent leadership changes, high levels of bullying and several supervisory cases since it opened in 2019. The last principal, Ingrid Maria Ulheim, and assistant principal Unni Mundal have both resigned, which led to the teachers not showing up for work and the school having to close for most steps. The municipality has taken several measures to lift the school, including increased funding and more man-years. The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority carried out an inspection at the school in October 2023 and found that the HSE work had to be improved. Violence and threats of violence are a challenge for the staff at the school. The school has also had challenges with high numbers of bullying, with 17 per cent of pupils in the 7th grade reporting that they have been bullied in the 2023/2024 school year. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – Glommasvingen school needs stability and calm to develop. This is what mayor Knut Hvithammer writes in an e-mail to news. Since the high school at Skarnes in Innlandet was completed in 2019, there have been frequent changes of leadership, high numbers of bullying and several supervisory cases at the school. This week it peaked when it became known that Ingrid Maria Ulheim, who has been principal at the school for a year, and assistant principal Unni Mundal, have resigned. That made the teachers at the school react. On Wednesday, they did not show up for work and the school had to close for most grades. – It is regrettable that a situation arises which creates uncertainty and frustration among parents and staff, the mayor writes further. Mayor of Sør-Odal, Knut Hvithammer (Ap), acknowledges that they have a job to do to make the school better. Photo: Reidar Gregersen / news In this way, the government will get more people to become teachers. Violence, threats and high numbers of bullying The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority carried out an inspection at the school in October 2023. Then they found that the HSE work at the shoe had to be improved, and the municipality has been notified of a total of eight orders. The inspection also revealed that violence and threats of violence are a challenge for the staff at the school. The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority writes: “Examples that were given were, among other things, ugly comments and bad mouthing, punches, kicks, use of bats and vandalism, and that incidents happen weekly. In addition, it emerged that contact with guardians can also be burdensome.’ This has led to emotional strain on the employees, it is concluded. Employees in primary schools have such a high risk of being exposed to violence and threats, compared to other professions. According to the Student Survey, the school at Skarnes has also had challenges with high numbers of bullying. 17 per cent of pupils in the 7th grade state that they have been bullied in the 2023/2024 school year. This is well above the average for primary schools in the interior and the rest of the country, which is 13 per cent. Glommasvingen school is one of the country’s largest primary schools with almost 900 pupils and 100 staff. The school opened in 2019 after the six schools in the municipality were merged. Photo: Jenny Marie Sveen / news – A lot has been done The mayor says that the politicians in the municipality have taken several measures to lift the school. Among other things, the school has received a good several million to work with since 2020, in addition to the number of man-years having increased, according to the mayor. – We have support from the State Administrator through the follow-up scheme to develop the school, and a lot of good work has been done to get better results and a good school environment, writes the mayor in the email. Nevertheless, these results do not appear outwardly. Municipal director in Sør-Odal, Anita Orlund, points out the same as the mayor, and believes the school is developing positively. She says the school has had an over-representation of so-called 9A cases. – That is why we have emphasized working to develop a safe and good school environment. Today, there are somewhat fewer cases with the State Administrator, but we must work continuously to ensure a safe and good school environment, she says. Archive photo: Anita Orlund, here from her time as mayor of Skedsmo, is municipal director in Sør-Odal. Orlund says that the municipality will continue to work on the initiatives that have begun to reverse the development. Received more messages about the school environment Over the course of four years, the State Administrator in the Interior has received a total of 27 messages or inquiries about the school environment. Most of them have been about the teaching, but also about the pupils’ psychosocial school environment. In 14 of these cases, the State Administrator found a breach of the activity obligation. In several of the cases, decisions have not yet been made. The Department for Kindergarten and Education at the State Administrator says they cannot go into these matters in more detail. – We have both inquiries and cases from Glommasvingen school. Each case is unique, and for reasons of confidentiality we cannot go into this in more detail, replies Karianne Stordal, head of communications at the Statsforvalteren. Communications Manager at the State Administrator in the Interior, Karianne Stordal. Photo: The county governor in Innlandet news has tried to get a comment from the director of education at the State Administrator, Aasa Gjestvang, without success. In an SMS to VG, she writes that they have followed the municipality and the school closely over a long period of time, including through the Monitoring Scheme. – We will continue with this until the summer of 2025, she writes to the newspaper. Aasa Gjestvang is director of education at the State Administrator of the Interior. According to VG, they have followed Sør-Odal and Glommasvingen schools closely for a long time. Photo: Ola Bjørlo Strande / news The department at the State Administrator adds that they continuously assess whether other measures may be relevant in following up the municipality. New headmaster hunt Now the municipality must try to find the school’s fourth headmaster. – We have worked to stabilize and support the management team at the school, but unfortunately we have not reached the goal of getting a stable management team in place. This is what the municipal manager for children and young people in Sør-Odal municipality, Kristin Granne, writes on the municipality’s website.
ttn-69
Frequent management changes, violence, threats and frustrated employees – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
