INTRODUCTION

Dear neighbors, parents and all those interested in the development of education,

We are Ivana and Tomáš Janeček, founders of the Duhovka Montessori educational system for children and young people aged 2 to 19. We would like to ask for your support concerning the Duhovka High School project.

We believe that Duhovka is an important piece of the Czech educational puzzle that will shape the future of our children, our city and our country. That is why we have dedicated more than fifteen years of our lives to the development of Montessori education. Duhovka teaches children to be independent, responsible members of the community who understand the complex world around us. It is a diverse school where we strive not only to provide a quality education but also to develop the critical thinking skills of our learners.

We are intending to expand Duhovka’s current capacity to include a new four-year high school program for students who will be completing their middle school level (9th grade). The program will hold approximately 175 students. To house the new program we plan to construct a new building which will also accomodate the transfer of the current capacity of our existing high school from Prague 7. The new building will be located on our current Duhovka Elementary School campus in Nad Kajetánkou Street. At present we have a legal lease from the Prague 6 municipality until 2054.

We know that the changes and the construction of a new building brings questions. We would like to provide answers to them on this website. Of course, you can also contact us here if you do not find the answers you need. Good interpersonal relations are a priority for us and it is therefore natural that we want to communicate openly with you, our neighbors.

First, let us describe our connection with Prague 6 and with the pupils and students from our district. Duhovka’s roots are in Prague 6 and we consider the district to be our home. It was in Prague 6 that we opened our first preschool in 2008. Furthermore, although Duhovka Elementary School is open to children from all over Prague, approximately 43 % of the pupils are from Prague 6. Even in our eight-year High School on Ortenovo Square in Prague 7, nearly 32 % of the students are still from Prague 6. We expect that students from Prague 6 will also have a dominant presence in the new Nad Kajetánkou location. In addition, we want to offer scholarships for families whose financial situation would otherwise not allow them to study at Duhovka. Today, about 10 % of our students have such scholarships. For the new four-year program, we want to make residency in Prague 6 a clear condition for the scholarship.

You may wonder what effect more students will have on the traffic situation in the surrounding area. According to our calculations, the traffic situation should not change significantly. More than 80 % of our students in Prague 7 use public transport to commute to school. That means that every day no more than tens of extra cars would pass through the area. Certainly not hundreds.

We are also prepared to deal with the traffic load during construction in a considerate manner. We will talk to the town hall about conditions such as covering the trucks for minimal dust, insisting on the strictest emission standards, limiting the hours during which they will drive to the site and making maximum use of electric mobility for transport of material with smaller vehicles.

We also want to offer something special to the children and adults of Prague 6. The two new gyms at the location will be available for hire by the public and local sports clubs in the evenings and at weekends.

The whole project is designed with respect for the surrounding area and it is not just about the school itself – the local community will benefit too. There will be a much-needed renovation of part of Jílkova Street and we will fund the extension of the outdoor sports area of the Pod Marjánkou Elementary School and its artificial lighting.

We would like to clarify a misunderstanding that has occurred. For some time now, there have been some plans for visualization of the project circulating in the public.tThose plans are not up to date. The entire project will be much smaller in capacity and mass. Please consider only the visualizations and plans found on this website to be current.

Finally – our lease will end one day. We would like to agree with the Prague 6 municipality that they take ownership of the building and grounds on favorable terms. The terms will be negotiated but it is safe to say that Prague 6 will save hundreds of millions of crowns compared to building a new school. From the moment of approval, among other things, it will also earn a higher rent, which we will pay regularly.

It is important to both of us that everything we create respects the wider interests. We are ready to discuss all professional insights and comments on the project. At the same time, we believe that we have assembled a professional team that is able to design a quality building and integrate it sensitively into the existing adjacent architecture. See for yourself.

Sincerely,

Ivana and Tomáš Janeček
Founders of Duhovka