A teacher at Debreceni Csokonai Vitéz Mihály High School (who has since been dismissed) is suspected of harassment after a male student filed a complaint about his behavior. The school’s principal officially reported the matter to the police, and the Debrecen District Education Center terminated the teacher’s employment.
The case was first reported by women’s rights activist Vera Mérő on social media. According to her, during a class trip to Italy, the teacher sent messages with harassing content to a student and attempted to arrange the room assignments so they would sleep in the same double bed. This was ultimately prevented thanks to the intervention of classmates.
According to one student, there was no official announcement at the school; information spread among the students informally. The teacher appeared at the school after the trip but has not been seen since.
The school stated that the principal did not cover up the case but immediately reported it to the appropriate authorities, contacted the Family and Child Welfare Center, and informed the student’s legal guardian. A case conference was held involving the student, the parent, and a family support worker. Following this, the principal submitted a written report to the police.
The school district then terminated the teacher’s employment.
Vera Mérő says the incident was covered up
The rights activist shared the following account of the case:
According to reports, the perpetrator of the shocking s*xual harassment presented yesterday is a teacher at the Debreceni Csokonai Vitéz Mihály High School. The incident was allegedly covered up by the school principal, Dr. Ágnes Szecskó Molnárné, with the active cooperation of the school district and the police.
In short: the teacher arranged for a student to join a foreign trip out of turn, in order to sexually abuse him by placing him in a shared (double bed) room. More details can be found in my post from yesterday (link in the comments).
The perpetrator, J. Dániel, who was later spat on by students in the school hallway and whose crime was only prevented by their intervention, left the school by mutual agreement without any legal proceedings. This means that in the fall, he could easily be hired as a teacher anywhere in the country. Responsibility, however, does not lie solely with the principal—it also lies with the police and the school district, who committed serious breaches of duty. Below is the second source, a letter from a parent.
Letter from a parent:
“Dear Vera, thank you for this post on behalf of the students of Debreceni Csokonai High School! It’s fantastic! I heard the story from my child two weeks ago! Unfortunately, I’ve known this principal for 5 years! A principal who always puts serving power before students’ interests. Everyone is waiting for her to retire.
I am a parent who has never stayed silent in the face of injustice against children. This won’t be any different! Unfortunately, situations like this often teach youth to stay silent, thinking it’ll be worse if they speak up. I will soon ask the principal publicly, in front of other parents and teachers: what has she done so far in the interest of the children in this matter?
I just spoke to my child. He said that this teacher (J.) reported a girl from his own class to the principal for possessing a “banned tobacco product” at school and even called the police. The parents were humiliated. As punishment, she was banned from going on the trip and from participating in an Italian festival where students perform poems and prose and take part in a translation competition. I hope J. didn’t organize the boy’s participation to replace this girl (perhaps with prior intent).
Interesting that the principal saw it as her duty to report tobacco possession to the police—but not this matter.”
Students’ reports began to emerge, backing up Mérő’s sources.
Later, a teacher also wrote in—here’s the case from a colleague’s point of view:
“Dear Vera Mérő, I respect and follow your work, which is why I think it’s important to share my experience related to what happened at Debreceni Csokonai Vitéz Mihály High School. I know you always seek truth and respect human dignity.
I also teach at this high school, although I joined recently, so I didn’t know about J.D.’s “background” until this incident. Unfortunately, the events during the trip to Italy happened as described and shocked everyone. The other chaperone teachers reported the case immediately upon returning home. However, what we do not find true—neither I nor my colleagues who read your post—is that the principal tried to cover it up. We feel the claims made about her are completely unfair and untrue. Although J.D. had her trust, after hearing those involved, she immediately reported the case to the district and the police.
We do not know how the police and the district conducted the investigation, as we were not informed about that. But we were told that the police investigation is ongoing. I can imagine mistakes were made, but I believe it would be unfair to blame the principal if the police failed in their duties. Thank you for reading my message and considering its contents. Most of the faculty was shocked by your post and felt it was unjust toward the principal. (Not to mention that many commenters suggested that the entire teaching staff turned a blind eye, though I know you didn’t write that yourself.)
Best regards, …”
A student’s letter:
“Dear Vera,
Please don’t be ashamed to send this whole Csokonai story to the press!
I say this (I think and hope) on behalf of all Csokonai students—we are all fed up and ashamed to go to a school like this.
We’ve had enough of J**** Dani, who—as the messages show—has been doing this kind of thing for a long time, but no one dared to speak up until now.
And we’ve had enough of the principal, who treats ‘banned tobacco products’ as a bigger problem than ped*philia.
It’s a circus.
If you can, please help bring this case to the public.
I’m happy to show my face and name if needed. I’d rather die than stay silent.
With love and thanks,
i.”
More horror stories surface—this one from a parent:
“No paper, can’t make photocopies, classrooms are dirty, the principal asked the kids to clean up after class because KLIK won’t send a janitor.
At a teacher protest, she warned the kids that those who demonstrate will be blacklisted.
Things would be much better if this principal retired. Then maybe the other teachers would open up and the tension would ease. But she’s immovable.
The teacher who’s a drug addict—whom the kids just call ‘The Junkie’—is a relative of a member of Parliament, just saying.
My daughter came home and asked if she could go to the protest because they threatened everyone. She was scared for us. I told her: if you want to go, go—we support you, don’t stay silent.
But many parents said they got jobs through Fidesz and told their kids not to go.
There were days when the protest just meant staying home—but many didn’t dare because the kids were blacklisted. They didn’t accept absence notes—neither from parents nor doctors.”
Developments can be followed on Vera Mérő’s Facebook page.
(Debreceni Nap)
