Closure of the Authou school: parents of students block the establishment

The mobilization continues and does not seem to be weakening for the parents of Authou students. A month after discovering that the municipality had voted to close the village school, parents and various supporters blocked the establishment throughout the morning of Monday, January 9, 2023. About fifteen people were gathered here to denounce the lack of communication and transparency of the town hall.

As a reminder, without notifying anyone, the municipal council of Authou has decided to close its school and its only class of sixteen students for budgetary reasons. Logically reassembled, the parents of students multiply the steps to cancel this decision.

“Surely there were solutions”

And it is always the same discourse in the mouths of Anne Pochon and Cécile Ladassi, heads of the parents’ association: “If the town hall had been transparent with us, if it had included us in the discussions, we would not be here today. “Both regret this” dishonesty “which complicated the dialogue from the outset. “There were surely solutions, we could have sat around a table and discussed. Instead, the mayor has decided everything in his corner. The parents have the feeling that the rug has been pulled from under them. Other than protesting and trying to reverse the closure, they find themselves helpless.

“A common interest between the town hall and the academy”

In front of the school on Monday morning, there was also Romuald Laigniez. Departmental secretary of union SNUDI FO 27, it represents the school teacher, necessarily subject to a duty of reserve. For the trade unionist, the communication around the school of Authou is done in a “total opacity”, both for the parents, but also for the teacher of the school. Still, no one knows what sauce it will be eaten. After the closure vote by the municipal council, the future of the little school will be played out on January 26 at the level of the academic management. In a very short time from January 26 to February 3, “a pocket handkerchief”, for Romuald Laigniez, the academy will develop its school map and decide, among other things, on the fate of Authou.

For the union and the parents present Monday morning, the outcome is not in doubt. It is, in their eyes, obvious that there is “a common interest between the town hall and the academy” on this decision. For the municipality, it is the insurance of big financial savings. For the academy, a reorganization of the workforce “which will make it possible to eliminate replacement positions”, assures the departmental delegate SNUDI FO.

This “authoritarian” decision by the municipality remains, for the parents, the assurance that “the children are not the priority”. And the absence of elected members of the municipal council by their side on Monday morning only confirms their doubts.

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