A complaint was filed against a teacher because of a wedding photo near the temple.

Why were the wedding photos of a boarding school teacher near Novosibirsk considered indecent?

A strange scandal with yet another “intimate” photo of a schoolteacher broke out near Novosibirsk. The peculiarity is that the woman teacher was branded not for the images in a negligee or in a swimsuit, which inadvertently floated onto the Internet. And for the more than modest photographs taken after the wedding against the backdrop of an Orthodox church. The teacher, however, had to justify his behavior to the local educational department and write an explanatory note. She chose to delete the “scandalous” photos.

And it all started when the Ministry of Education of the Novosibirsk Region received a signal. A concerned citizen wrote that Marina Olegovna Lvova, a teacher of Russian language and literature (she also teaches history) at a state-owned boarding school in Kuibyshev, “posted photographs of an intimate nature in the public domain.”

For this, the teacher was called “on the carpet” to conduct a conversation “about the observance of the code of professional ethics by teaching staff.” After all, as they write in the department, all pedagogical activities in our country are subject to the federal law “On Education”. Which says that a teacher must work “on the basis of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values. And “norms of behavior in the interests of the individual, family, society and state.”

Let’s return to the photos that caused the fuss to flare up. There, against the backdrop of a red brick Orthodox church, a young couple is depicted after their wedding. The woman is wearing a white scarf, and in general, absolutely everything is covered. There are two more paired photos of the same people posing in regular summer clothes. No cleavage, no mini, no other intimate details. It is difficult to imagine photographs that are closer to traditional family values.

However, Marina Lvova, in a state of “shock from all this,” had to write an explanatory note. There, the teacher indicated that the photo was taken after the wedding 5 years ago. In general, she and her husband have been married for 7 years and are now expecting a child…

However, she has already removed the disgraced photos from the social network, out of sin. But the strange case is still being discussed on the Internet. People are wondering in every possible way why the local educational department gave way to such an absurd complaint. What could the “ethical conversation” be about? What is indecent can finally be seen in the photograph near the church. The case is so mysterious that a version has emerged about a hit-and-run on a local deputy, with whom Marina Lvova is friends.

“I think everything is much simpler here,” says a mathematics teacher from Kuibyshev on condition of anonymity. — Look, Marina worked at this school for less than a year. And went on maternity leave. This is how they sometimes force an unwanted person out of school. Our administrations don’t like people who are sick, let alone pregnant women… This means that we need to keep a staff member, but now she won’t work for long. And there is also a boarding school for children with speech disorders. There is no queue at such places and it is difficult to find someone on staff, let alone a replacement. Or the second option could be: they didn’t read it, didn’t look closely, but did the work. We didn’t think it would come up in the public domain.

MK recalled other scandals involving “indecent” photographs of Russian teachers. In 2019, Russian language and literature teacher Tatyana Kuvshinnikova lost her job because of photographs in a swimsuit, including winter ones, taken during a competitive swimming competition. The photos caused outrage from the mother of one of the students. “Who are you luring?” — the parent asked rhetorically in the complaint, declaring that such photos are “a stain on the school’s reputation.”

Even earlier, there was a scandal in Omsk, when history teacher Victoria Popova was forced to resign from school because of studio photos in a swimsuit taken for a modeling agency. In 2018-2019, the flash mob “Teachers are people too” swept across the country. Teachers, social activists and even some officials posted photos of themselves in swimsuits and revealing clothes.

But, nevertheless, dismissals in schools due to frivolous content on social networks continued. Last year, a teacher-organizer in Ishim, Tyumen region, lost her job for a racy photo shoot. But for wedding photographs to be declared intimate, this is the first time this has happened.