"Obviously, it is reluctantly that we accept this decision, but it remains a relief because we were worried," slips a professor over the phone.
This Monday, again because of the Covid-19, the Jean-de la-Fontaine college in Crépy-en-Valois (Oise) will not open its doors to students.
And this for at least seven days.
A little over a year ago, the establishment was the first in France to be struck by the coronavirus.
This is where Dominique V., the first Frenchman to die of Covid-19 on February 26, 2020, taught. “We have the impression of reliving the month of March of last year,” blows a member of the educational staff.
READ ALSO>
Coronavirus: the college of Crépy-en-Valois will be closed at the start of the school year
Last week, several positive SARS-Cov-2 cases were detected at this facility.
"Two members of the management staff, an agent of the department, an accompanying student with disabilities [...] to which are added three students tested positive distributed in different classes", indicates the prefecture in a press release this Sunday evening .
The prefect of the Oise does not specify, however, whether the contaminations are linked to the so-called English or South African variants of Covid-19.
The health protocol established by the National Education indeed provides for separate measures depending on the type of variant detected.
Why did you close the entire college in view of the low number of cases?
"It is the impact of positive cases and risky contacts on management and supervisory staff that gives rise to the decision to close," explained one to the academic inspectorate this Sunday evening.
The authorities add that a test campaign will be carried out among educational staff and adolescents.
It will be carried out jointly by the ARS and the municipality of Crépy-en-Valois.
"We must stick together and move forward"
In the city, considered the first cluster in France in March 2020, the closure of the college resonates particularly "The story begins again, it's a hassle for everyone, I know what I'm talking about, we have to tighten up elbows and move forward ”, assures the mayor (SE) of the city of Archery, Bruno Fortier.
The city council had itself been contaminated, at the heart of the municipal election campaign.
"We have the impression that history is repeating itself", abounds a parent of a student.
Newsletter The essential of the 60
A tour of Oise and IDF news
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
From this Monday, when the department of Oise has just returned to confinement, it will therefore be the return of distance courses for the some 700 students of the school.
"Tomorrow, we will have to get down to work quickly to send them work, they still have the white certificate in three weeks," says the teacher.
During the closure, "the departmental council teams will disinfect the college", also assures the prefecture.