The city of Montluçon plans to review the map of elementary and nursery schools in the next four years, in particular by grouping establishments. And so to school closures.
A choice that already raises opposition (read elsewhere), but which she defends, ensuring that this 2022-2026 school plan has been drawn up for the good of schoolchildren and families. “The main objective is to adapt, renovate and secure schools so that students can complete their education in the best conditions”, indicates the community, which also affirms its “determination to make education a major shared priority”.
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The three districts concerned
This plan revolves around three projects in three districts of the city: downtown, Bien-Assis and Fontbouillant. “With a strong desire to create places of schooling, school groups (kindergarten, elementary, middle school, even high school, post-baccalaureate establishments), to install these places as close as possible to the inhabitants, by offering them local services, of quality in renovated places”.
What must change at the start of the 2023 school year
For the city centerthe schools plan plans to bring together pupils from the Anatole-France elementary school in the Jules-Ferry and Balzac schools and pupils from the Pauline-Kergomard kindergarten in Jean-Giono and Paul-Fort.
The city insists on the fact that it was already planned for the Anatole-France school to close at the start of the 2023 school year, for a period of around eighteen months, due to the major work it must continue to carry out to secure the Lamaron slab.
“The students should have been welcomed in other schools and during this period, it was not possible to leave the Pauline-Kergomard kindergarten without an elementary school nearby”, specifies the community, highlighting in particular the ” presence of siblings.
The city ensures, moreover, “that after studying the place of residence of the families, the transfer to other schools will not significantly increase the distances and travel times”, while indicating that “the services will meet the families who so wish in order to see together their problem”.
At Bien-Assis, the city wishes to bring the Aymé-Desnos kindergarten closer to the Jacques-Prévert elementary school. And to do this, bring the two schools together on the same site: the Pergaud/Prévert plateau, near the college.
What the plan foresees for 2026
In Fontbouillant, the project and to bring together the Marie-Noël kindergarten and the Aristide-Briand elementary school “to constitute a common space of establishments in a privileged and protected environment”, explains the city. She adds that this grouping “will require construction”.
“Our goal is to create a new school, which is a real educational unit near the Jean-Jacques Soulier college”
Frederic Laporte (Mayor of Montluçon)
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Number of employees down 13% since 2010
This plan is largely due to the continued decline in the number of students in Montluçonnais establishments. Between 2010 and 2021, the city on the banks of the Cher lost 13% of its pupil numbers, i.e. nearly 300 pupils. “And the forecasts are still down by a little more than a hundred in the next three or four years”, indicates Frédéric Laporte.
“With this plan, we are not going to close classes,” adds the mayor. The purpose of these groups is to create beautiful schools and offer quality service. In France, the number of pupils authorized is 24 per class, the national average is 22 and in Montluçon we are currently at 18. At Anatole-France, for example, there are 80 students for 250 places. »
Towards a class closure in the Pauline-Kergomard and Paul-Lafargue nursery schools in Montluçon (April 2020)
Sources of savings
In the current context of rising energy costs and inflation, the elected also sees sources of savings.
“While that’s not specifically what guided this plan, those are also things to consider. When a school exists, whether there are four classes of not even twenty students or seven or eight classes of twenty students, the heating is the same way. By making savings, we will also be able to better invest in our schools”.
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The elected official recalls that the investments for schools amounted to “1.5 million euros in 2021 and another 1 million this year”.
A petition against the closure of Anatole-France and Pauline-Kergomard
Representatives of parents of students from the two schools in the Diénat district launched a petition on July 4 on change.org to oppose the closure of Anatole-France and Pauline-Kergomard at the start of the 2023 school year. The petition in question has so far collected some 700 signatures.
And despite the elements communicated by the city in recent days, the parents of students who initiated it continue to firmly oppose the disappearance of the two schools. “Many questions remain unanswered. We are not more convinced by the arguments put forward by the town hall. Neither on travel times, nor on the best learning conditions for our children,” explains Alexandra Laville, whose 4.5-year-old son attends Kergomard, and who herself was a schoolgirl in both schools.
“Neighborhood schools are necessary. It is better to have small schools where the children are happy than groups where the classes will be fuller […]. This is not how we are going to attract people to Montluçon”
Alexandra Laville (Representative of parents of students)
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And the mother of the family added: “We are not going to give up”.
Michael Nicholas
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