On the Oxpress fan page, the following post was published:

We would like you to learn about a situation that recently affected our school. This is not about the institution itself, but about the children attending Oxpress, as it was they who were deprived by MOSiR, headed by the city authorities, of the opportunity to participate in competitions organised in Bolesławiec. In April, the city of Bolesławiec organised the Lower Silesian Olympians’ Days, about which the school was not informed at all. (...) the children did not participate because of a deliberate decision by the city authorities. The following schools were admitted to the competition: Primary School No. 1, Primary School No. 2, Primary School No. 3, Primary School No. 4, Primary School No. 5, the Piarist School and the Special Education School Complex. As you know, our students achieve numerous successes in the many competitions in which we participate, but this time that opportunity was deliberately taken away from them. We are trying to ensure that this matter does not go unnoticed and are awaiting an explanation from the city authorities.

This situation should not have occurred, and those responsible should face the consequences of their decisions. We hope that nothing like this happens again. As in every sport, the principle of Fair Play should apply here too; it is crucial in inter-school competition. No one should deprive children of the opportunity to test their abilities through competition, develop their personality and mental resilience, or proudly represent their school or city.

The parents and the headteacher of Oxpress also wrote official letters to Mayor Piotr Roman and to the organiser of the swimming competition in Bolesławiec: the Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre in Bolesławiec (MOSiR). In one of the letters, the headteacher recalled that when Oxpress organised sports competitions, it included municipal schools in them.

A spokeswoman for the City Hall said that a letter containing a response had been sent to Oxpress.

“Only public educational institutions took part in the Olympiad, and the Piarist School and the District Special Education School Complex are such institutions. All students are equally important to us,” added Agnieszka Gergont.

A prestigious event not for everyone

The parents’ and headteacher’s disappointment over Oxpress being excluded and their wish to participate in the Lower Silesian Olympiad are understandable. The event was prepared on an impressive and interesting scale.

In April 20223, a series of activities took place in Bolesławiec’s kindergartens and schools to familiarise pupils with the Lower Silesian Olympians. A Blue Olympiad was organised as part of World Autism Awareness Day observances, along with inter-school athletics and swimming competitions, art contests entitled “I Want to Become an Olympian” and “Olympians’ Days”, and an Olympic Knowledge Contest.

Schools hosted meetings between outstanding athletes and students, giving children and young people an opportunity to learn more about the Olympians and talk about the hardships of sporting competition. Bolesławiec schools were visited by well-known Lower Silesian athletes, including four-time Olympian and basketball player Mieczysław Łopatka, Atlanta Olympic gold medallist and sport shooter Renata Mauer-Różańska, Olympian and cyclist Jacek Bodyk, Oliwia Jabłońska, a swimmer with a disability, Paralympic silver and bronze medallist, Lucyna Kornobys, an athlete with a disability who won second place in the shot put final, and Olympian and boxer Ryszard Tomczyk.

As the city’s deputy mayor, Renata Szewczyk, explained in a letter to Oxpress, the swimming competition was only one of many activities held as part of the Olympiad, which was a closed event—intended only for public educational institutions—and was not financed from extra-budgetary sources. These were the only reasons why Oxpress students were not included in the April event.

Renata Szewczyk also recalled that the Bolesławiec Municipal Commune provides annual subsidies for running the private school. In 2022, this amounted to nearly PLN 2 million, while in the first three months of 2023 it was nearly half a million.

We will return to this matter, as on 8 May 2023 the Oxpress headteacher sent another letter to the mayor, stressing that he considered Oxpress’s exclusion from the competition an unequal starting point for the school’s students and asking whether the money allocated for the competition had been included in the calculation of subsidies for public schools.