The affair had a national impact. Three days after the announcement of the departure of the principal of the Parisian high school Maurice-Ravel (20th century), threatened with death after an altercation with a BTS student to make her remove her veil, a rally is planned for this Friday in front of the school campus, before that the heads of establishments, “on the front line”, speak out.
The rally has been underway since 7:45 a.m. this Friday morning, at the call of the Socialist Party, which invites students, parents and teachers: “following the resignation of the principal of the Maurice-Ravel school complex, the party federation Socialist of Paris affirms its full support for the principal and the educational community.
Management staff “on the front line”
For its part, the main union of heads of establishments, SNPDEN-Unsa, will speak in the morning, for the first time since the start of the affair, during a press conference on the theme of "violations to secularism.” Management staff are “on the front line”, he recalls in the press invitation.
Following the resignation of Maurice Ravel's principal at #Paris20, the #SocialistsDeParis affirm their full support and call for a gathering in front of the establishment with students, parents and the educational community, this Friday, March 29 at 7:45 a.m. pic.twitter.com/MYdo2puutW
— Socialists of Paris 🇪🇺🇫🇷🌹 (@PS_Paris) March 27, 2024
The headmaster of Ravel high school had been the target of death threats on the networks since the altercation on February 28 with a student, attending BTS, whom he had asked to remove her veil. He announced this week that he was leaving his post, a few months before his retirement, “for security reasons” according to his establishment. An early departure which caused great excitement among teachers and within the political class.
State complaint against the young woman
Questioned Thursday evening on RTL, the Minister of Education Nicole Belloubet indicated that this principal “is not under police protection, but he has direct access to the police and judicial protection”. The day before, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had announced that the State would file a complaint against the young woman for “slanderous denunciation”.
Agnès Andersen, general secretary of ID-FO, another union of school heads, denounced “a climate of pressure which is exerted in the form of threats, intimidation and sometimes violence, against school heads” .
VIDEO. At the Maurice-Ravel high school after the departure of the threatened principal: “It’s a weird atmosphere”
“The parents of students are increasingly aggressive, the sanctions are often contested, there are more and more appeals, and we have to cope, without sufficient human resources,” regretted Ms. Andersen to AFP. “The cup is full, there is an emergency.”
“Collective failure”
For the Sgen-CFDT of the Paris Academy, a teaching union, the departure of the headmaster of the Ravel high school constitutes “a collective failure”: “The repetition of this type of scenario against a backdrop of instrumentalization of the relationship to religious beliefs is not not acceptable and can lead to tragedies. We know this only too well in national education after the assassination of Samuel Paty.”
Also read Paris: police protection, complaint, resignation… what we know about the headmaster of the Lycée Ravel threatened with death
During the investigation opened at the beginning of March, two individuals identified as being behind the threats were arrested. “One of them must be judged on April 23 in Paris” indicated the Ministry of National Education this Wednesday. The second was released.