“It’s clearly the daycare”, annoys Bouchra in front of the grid of the elementary school Jean Zay in Nantes, this Thursday morning. At least five teachers are absent due to Covid-19, either because they are contaminated or because they are in contact. Angry, the parents of the students protested in front of the establishment. A few hours later, the rectorate announced the arrival of six replacements this Friday, since another new contact case is added to the list.
Parents who support teachers
This Thursday, all the children are in the playground. “I do not understand that we do not replace the five absent teachers”, annoys Bouchra, a student mother. All the teachers refuse to teach because thethe rectorate proposes to distribute around sixty students. “It’s for limit student mixing between classes“, specifies Pascal Auger, of the SNUIPP union in Nantes. A situation fully understood by the parents of pupils. “We’ve been making efforts for months and months to prevent children from crossing paths. There are several entrances, several hours depending on the class, several tours in the canteen. And there, it is as if the virus was on strike “, underlines Vanessa, a mother of three children attending the school. “It’s been a year since the health crisis. We can not anticipate this situation?”, asks Bouchra.
Reinforcements arrive in disaster
Faced with the situation, the rectorate asks several teachers substitutes, already in post, to abandon their students to join the Jean Zay school. An aberrant situation for the teachers of the school. “They refused to welcome the substitutes in order, on the one hand to avoid moving the problem from one school to another, and on the other hand to avoid creating an epidemic focus in the school”, underlines Bernard Vallin of FSU union.
It was predictable and we are paying it now, Bernard Vallin FSU Co-Secretary.
The situation was foreseeable for the trade unions. “In June, we proposed an additional recruitment plan. It was validated by the Minister of Education but not by the Elysee. Here is the result now”, answers Bernard Vallin FSU co-secretary in Loire-Atlantique before adding: “There is a shortage of 60 teachers across the department. And that’s the minimum “. At the end of the day, the director of the office of the rectorate announces the arrival of substitute teachers on Friday. “A reinforcement of five staff is planned to take charge of the five classes without a teacher. It’s a never-ending story, like the Covid. We try to respond as best as possible to situations and to ensure that the students are the most taken in charge.”
We undress Pierre to dress Paul – Pascal Auger, from the SNUIPP union in Loire-Atlantique
But this is far from suiting Pascal Auger, member of the SNUIPP union. “It will relieve a school because five colleagues are arrested, but it is not the solution either. We will draw from a reservoir of REP + replacements, who must normally replace colleagues in turn so that the incumbents can have time for consultation. It’s DIY. “
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