The courtyard of the Voltaire college in Sarcelles will remain empty in September. But not as quiet as during this summer period.
The teachers of this establishment in the east of Val-d'Oise, classified REP (Priority Education Network) will be present… but on strike. A decision voted unanimously by the teachers, during a general assembly in early July, and supported by the federation of parents of students, despite the unprecedented health context.
"This initiative, reasoned and reasonable, is the consequence of a series of calls, letters, alerts started in February", explain the future demonstrators in the strike notice already filed with the Departmental Services Directorate of the National Education (Dsden) of Val-d'Oise.
The teachers warn: "We will refuse to take our students as long as we do not obtain a seventh grade of 5th, human resources in school life, among maintenance agents, administrative staff, the health-social pole, and the cafeteria. "
The perennial question of means has taken an even more bitter turn with the health crisis.
After six months of physical absence of the students, confinement and summer vacation oblige, the decision to strike seems inevitable. Here, as in other establishments in Ile-de-France, the Covid has exacerbated inequalities, as the teaching team reminds us. First from a health point of view since this municipality of more than 60,000 inhabitants, the 13th poorest city in France according to a classification of the 2017 inequalities observatory, has been hard hit by the epidemic. The death rate there has more than tripled. "We have students whose parents are deceased," replies a teacher.
"The premises do not even allow the application of barrier gestures"
Then at the level of education, it also shaken. “During confinement we recorded a minimum of 130 to 140 students lost, or about 12% [against 4 to 5% for the academy, and 4% nationally]. We will have to make up for this delay, how without means? “Asks the team of teachers.
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“This year, we will end up with classes from 5th to 28 students! “, Annoys Mathieu Quéré, professor of physical education and sports (EPS). “The premises do not even allow the application of barrier gestures. "
Teachers and parents of students hoped that this crisis would have an impact on this re-entry into this college, which has grown from 550 to 650 secondary school pupils in two years and where the pass rate for the patent was, in 2019, "70%", specifies a teacher . This is well below the national average of 86.5%.
"In 2018, when we had less than 24 students per class, obtaining this diploma was 88%, it is not a coincidence", assure the professors. "We had hopes that additional resources would be allocated, it was utopian", breathes Justine Gardes, senior education advisor for six years in this college she left at the start of the school year. “But we did not suspect that we would have less means, so this is hard. "
The team is already a strike fund
So the teaching team wants to establish a balance of power. “We think the movement can be difficult, warns Mathieu Quéré. We stand ready. "
Everything is being organized this summer through a WhatsApp group created for the occasion, in which the teachers exchange regularly. “We have just created an online strike fund to hold out as long as possible. When a teacher starts at 1,700 euros in the Paris region, it is not easy to go on strike. It can last several weeks, we are preparing for the worst. "
Won't the students be the first to be penalized? "We would have preferred to ensure the start of the school year," repeats a literary teacher. But the learning conditions for our students are not met. Like the parents, we denounce the existing school segregation. The words are harsh, equal to the discontent. "In 2019, among the students who arrived in college in 6th year, only 40% mastered the fundamentals in mathematics, 50% in French, more than 60% of college students did not know how to swim…"
The parents' federation supports the movement
Another warning sign: absenteeism. “We recorded 10,000 half-days of absence last year,” reveals a professor. “It was the same thing when I arrived six years ago, remembers Justine Gardes. The following year there were only 1,500 thanks to a work of school life. But this year we went back to more than 6,000 unjustified absences, that's too much. There are 6 to 7 educational assistants per day for 600 students, that is 1% of adults to ensure a follow-up of the college students, it is not possible, the team is drowned. We were left with half an assistant post after the principal was assaulted by a student [excluded since this incident] otherwise this post would have been abolished. "
The parents' federation is also on the alert. "It's hard to say that our children will probably not go back to school at the start of the school year," concedes a mother of a student. But it is in the hope of obtaining more means. "
"We don't want our children to be sacrificed"
They wrote to Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, to Brigitte Macron "to appeal to her sensitivity as a teacher" and were received at the town hall of Sarcelles. In a letter intended for the rector, the office of the mayor (PS) Patrick Haddad, the city deplores a "worrying situation" and urges the academy to take "very concrete measures".
These parents also exchanged by email with the prefect for equal opportunities Sébastien Jallet. Because it is indeed equality that it is for these families. “We don't want our children to be sacrificed, they should have the same education rights as everyone else. "
"We will see at the end of August if there are arbitrations to be made"
Guylène Mouquet-Burtin, academic director of Val-d'Oise hears the demands of teachers. “We received them in audience on July 8. We of course studied the situation of the college and opened an additional 6th grade class. Classes are on average 25.1 students, so there is no rush to open a new one, ”insists Guylène Mouquet-Burtin.
She also recalls that the establishment was “provided with additional resources for an eloquence project supported by the ministry and the academy. We will see at the end of August if there are new arbitrations to be made according to all the requests that we will have on the department. We will be as fair as possible. "
