A year ago, on Saturday September 21 exactly, Christine Renon, kindergarten director in Pantin in Seine-Saint-Denis, killed herself in her school by leaving a letter denouncing the deterioration of her working conditions.
Read also: Suicide in Pantin: the loneliness of school directors
One year after this “
political act
”, the Christine Renon collective organized a white march this Saturday, September 26.
It started at 2 p.m. at the Quatre-chemin metro station and ended two hours later at Méhul school where the principal ended her life and where several people spoke.
"
Anger, galley, misery, thank you the ministry
" or "
Blanquer, do you hear our anger
" chanted some 300 demonstrators in the streets of Pantin.
A year after Christine Renon took action, the world of education regrets that nothing has changed.
To AFP, his colleagues explain that "
it is even worse
".
“
We hoped it would move.
But nothing has changed, we even loaded the mule: we have just added an application with data to be traced for the Covid
", told AFP Sandrine Delmas, who works more than 50 hours per week.
At 54, director at Pantin for nearly twenty years, she also "
loves her job
" but confides "
to questioning the idea of continuing or not
".
“
We will be given a bonus of 400 euros but what we want is institutional recognition.
Today, we do not have the status of executive while we have responsibilities and missions similar to secondary management staff
, ”she explains.
She sees her colleague's terrible gesture as "
a political act, conscious or not
".
“
Even if nothing beats giving up her life, she sacrificed herself for us, so we must continue the fight,
” she said.
Read also: Teachers' strike: "How many Christine Renon so that we are finally listened to?"
“
Christine's death made us feel guilty, we said to ourselves 'we didn't see the thing, we should have done more'.
But she also united us,
”testifies her colleague Thomas Bobillot.
After his death, the directors set up a WhatsApp group.
To be able to say "
I do not know what to do, I am lost
", he describes, "
in our offices, we are alone in front of children in difficulty and parents not easy
".
Christian Fagny, director for 29 years, deplores the elimination of the administrative assistance which he previously benefited from to manage his school of 365 students, classified as REP.
He hopes for negotiations which should open "
a marked improvement in the function by reducing administrative tasks
".
One year away from retirement, he is worried: "
we will soon have trouble finding directors
" because "
nothing has changed in the burden weighing on school directors
".
