"Staying in Proven Systems": Director of Vienna's Julius-Meinl-Gasse on School Merger

School principal Adi Solly was surprised by the interview request about the alleged uncertainty among the Ottakring parent community. He had only received positive feedback on the merger of the Julius Meinl School and the Odoakergasse so far - most recently on the Day of Viennese Schools. In addition, there was an information event for all parents who already have children in the school, which was also attended by Education Director Elisabeth Fuchs. The event also ended on a positive note. However, he could imagine that the short lead time may have unsettled some parents who do not yet have children in the school.

No New School Leadership Found for Julius Meinl School

The decision to merge was made by the education directorate. The district finally gave its approval. Solly had been provisionally leading the two schools in parallel for the past two years, as no new school leadership could be found for the Julius Meinl School. Solly sees the reason for this as partly the lower monetary incentives for half-day schools. On the other hand, it is also the reduced pedagogical tasks in the school leadership position, which someone who has trained to be a teacher is usually reluctant to give up. Whether the clientele is education-oriented or not makes little difference as an incentive. "The work is the same," says Solly, there are just different emphases on the challenges. He himself ultimately took on the position because he comes from Ottakring and his beloved Wiener Sport-Club is located nearby. "And then, of course, the building. When you look from outside, this castle. And inside, beautiful. You can't find that anymore. With the high ceilings and the beautiful windows. Everything is under monument protection," Solly enthuses. He hadn't really considered the pay beforehand.

Now it is so that Solly has officially been appointed as the director of the new, expanded Julius Meinl School. The processes no longer run in parallel but together. But what exactly does that mean now? How is the composition of the classes from now on? What innovations are there and which habits remain?

After School Merger: "We Continue to Work with and on the Things We Are Good At"

School development consultants were brought in for conceptual support. It was analyzed which conditions should definitely be preserved and where new, common paths make sense. The insight was that there are two major areas of expertise that are very different in nature due to the student population. At the Julius Meinl School, they specialized in challenging children who already knew some letters before starting school. At the Odoakergasse, they made great strides with high, intensive effort and a wide variety of methods with schoolchildren who initially had little command of the German language. "We can prove this because we had a high proportion of children with exceptional status, meaning a different language competence, but then in total the most who managed to convert this language competence into sufficient language competence the fastest. And that already shows that good work is being done. But it has never really been honored. The reputation of a school is the reputation of a school," says Solly. On the Day of Viennese Schools, there were some parents who, under the new circumstances, took a look at the Odoakergasse for the first time and, according to Solly, were amazed at how well work is done in the other school building and that they were not aware of it.

These areas of expertise are to be preserved in the future. "It makes no sense to simply say 50-50. One half can already read or knows many letters when they come to school, the other half is not even proficient in our language yet - putting them together brings nothing. We will continue to ensure that the children remain very homogeneous in their talents and prerequisites. That means it will continue to be the case that children who come to school with more, and therefore need to be more challenged, will stay together," explains Solly. Likewise, children who still need to catch up in their school readiness or language competence will receive targeted support in a separate class group. "It was also important to me that I don't say from the beginning, now everything is new, now everything has to be thought and done differently, but we stay in our proven systems. There has been no change in class composition since the announcement, but we continue to work with and on the things we are good at," emphasizes Solly.

Children and Their Parents Decide Which Class They Join

Ultimately, the children and their parents decide which class they join. When registering, they can specify which teacher they wish for or with which children they want to be in a class. According to Solly's experience, this is something that more education-oriented families deal with when it comes to their first child - despite parental work, such as the "Fit for School" program, which aims to engage parents even before their children start school.

"I then sit for a long time, that's my Sudoku, I always say, but it works out well," says the school principal. "If there are more than can be accommodated in one class - and that hardly ever happens, in recent years it has only happened once - then the second choice is considered." When distributing the remaining children, consultations are held among the teachers, with particular attention paid to interests and talents. At the Julius Meinl School, for example, there is a focus on music and creativity and a focus on sports. With the addition of the facilities in the Odoakergasse, there are also twelve classes with smartboards, where, if desired by the parents, digital education can be pursued.

Projects Outside the Class Group

Integration happens elsewhere. "With the merging of the schools, new things could also develop. For example, there are projects that span across classes and school levels, where work is done independently of the class group, and where the children are mixed, regardless of their educational background. We simply want to achieve that these children, who meet in other areas - outside of school, in clubs, on the street, while shopping, in the park, wherever - get to know each other. Already in school. I believe that this also helps them when they become teenagers or young adults, because they all live in this district, it is their living environment. And accordingly, we want to set this up together anew. On one hand, preserving quality and expertise, and on the other hand, a path for the future, where, even if you have different basic conditions, such as educational level or language skills, you can do something good together."

School Development Team Formed from Faculty

To continue working on which areas synergies are sensible and where it is good to stay in the original competencies, a school development team was formed from the faculty, in which, according to Solly, representatives of both schools' teaching staff are present. Here, they constantly deal with the questions "Has this proven to be good? Have we overlooked anything? Do we need to change this again? We did this before and we will continue to do so," emphasizes the school principal. The process is, of course, also accompanied by teacher training and support concepts.

"I believe it is really good, and I am extremely confident. I know that I have highly qualified teachers in both schools, who will simply manage to do something together in their competencies and at the same time preserve their original own strengths. There is really a good atmosphere among the teaching staff," says Solly.

Future Scenarios

A change in the type of school, such as to a full-day school or an open primary school, is not planned, explains Solly upon inquiry, and will certainly not be implemented in the coming years. This has also been clearly communicated by the director of education. In any case, there would be a long lead time for this and it would only apply to children who are new to a school.

Addressing the closure of the De La Salle private school in Schopenhauerstraße, through which around 300 children will be looking for a new school from the next school year and will likely be torn from their class groups and distributed across various classes due to capacity - a nightmare scenario for all parents of school children - Solly says: "I can't imagine a scenario where you say, you close this huge school. With us, the state guarantees, yes, for everything." In fact, there are already initial applications from teachers of the closing De La Salle school at the Julius-Meinl school.

Farewell Odoakergasse: Expanded Julius-Meinl School in Vienna-Ottakring

Anyone who wants to get a picture of the new, expanded Julius-Meinl School can do so on October 17 and 20, 2025, between 9 and 11 a.m. on the open house days.

(Ed./JELU)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.