Parents' lawsuit over cruel treatment of children at a kindergarten in Sochi reaches court

The Adler District Court has set a date for hearing a class action lawsuit filed by parents against the head of Sochi kindergarten #121, Natalya Lazarenko. They are demanding compensation for moral damages for the cruel treatment of children by teachers.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, in early March, the mother of a child at one of the kindergartens in Sochi accidentally filmed a video showing the teacher treating the children in a rude manner. She grabbed one of the girls and dipped her face into a plate, after which she passed the food to another child. The video was first posted in a parent chat, then it was published by a number of Telegram channels. On March 12, more than 100 parents sent a collective statement to the prosecutor's office, the education department, and the presidential administration of the Russian Federation. They asked to initiate a criminal case, conduct an internal investigation and prohibit the teacher from working with children.

The consideration of the class action lawsuit of the parents of the pupils of kindergarten No. 121 against the director Natalia Lazarenko will begin on August 26. According to the plaintiffs, the director did not stop the teachers from abusing the children and actually covered for her subordinates. The inspections at the kindergarten did not lead to any real consequences for the teacher, whose actions in March were recorded on video, and the head teacher Lazarenko took her side - she suggested that the parents transfer their children to another group or take an academic leave, instead of suspending the teacher from work.

"The parents of the children did not expect such a reaction from the administration of MDOBU No. 121 and the regulatory authorities, which was contrary to the interests of the young students," the lawsuit says.

Elena Baranetskaya, who is the main speaker for the plaintiffs, reported that her three-year-old son began to be afraid of the same teacher after the abuse. "In January, I began to notice that a whole set of clothes with urine and traces of dust were regularly laid out in a bag on my son's locker. When I asked, they explained that the child had wet himself. But the adaptation period looked unusual: if the child saw Kalinichenko, he would fall to the floor and start throwing a tantrum,” she told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to Baranetskaya, any complaints from parents were ignored, and discussions in the parents’ WhatsApp chat were stopped by the headmistress’s daughter and the chairmen of the parent committees. “Instead of starting to solve problems together with the parents, headmistress Lazarenko took an aggressive position,” the lawsuit says.

Other plaintiffs, including Natalya Zharova, Kristina Solomatina, and Anna Lapina, also describe cases of systematic psychological and physical abuse of children. Natalya Zharova said that her daughter was threatened by the teacher in the toilet. "The daughter was crying and screaming that she didn't want to, and the teacher was rudely shouting at the top of her lungs: "Pee, pee, or you'll pee yourself again!"," she said.

The mother of a five-year-old kindergarten student, Kristina Solomatina, claims that her son faced cruel treatment from another teacher. "The child complains that the teacher hit him in the eye because he didn't sleep during nap time. The teacher also calls my son a "moron." My husband tried to talk to the teacher about this, she did not deny this fact, explaining that it "came out by accident," she writes.

In December 2024, Solomatina's son complained that the same teacher took him to another teacher in a neighboring group and that he was scolded there. The third teacher hit him "in the teeth," the lawsuit says.

The mother of a four-year-old kindergarten student, Anna Lapina, said that her daughter had categorically refused to go to kindergarten since she was three years old and would say tearfully, "She beat me! She beat me!" The teacher would apologize to the mother, saying that she "didn't watch her closely enough" and that "the kids beat" the girl. "I often picked up the child with bruises and abrasions on her ears, it seemed like someone was forcefully pulling my young daughter by the ears," the mother writes.

Elena Baranetskaya notes that she and other parents have repeatedly given investigators testimony about cases of cruelty towards children, but no action has been taken so far. The teachers were not even fired under the article - the management of the institution referred to the fact that there were "few" of them and "low salaries".

Baranetskaya personally witnessed the cruel treatment of her son: the parents came to the kindergarten early and saw one of the teachers yelling at the child lying on the floor. The boy was holding his ear and crying loudly. Seeing his parents, he began to shout: "Hit! Hit!" The child's ear was red and seemed to be on fire. After this incident, Kalinichenko sent messages with apologies, writing that she accidentally hit the boy's ear with a ring. The parents attached a screenshot of this message as evidence of the incident.

The plaintiffs are demanding compensation for moral damages in the amount of 300 thousand rubles for each child, the total amount of compensation is 1.2 million rubles. The parents are also demanding compensation for legal costs. "The facts of what happened are currently being investigated by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but everything is going very slowly," Elena Baranetskaya stated.

The head of Natalya Lazarenko declined to comment to the "Caucasian Knot" regarding the lawsuit, saying that she had previously "given her explanations to other media outlets." At the same time, the kindergarten confirmed that they received the lawsuit.

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