Yvon Robert, mayor of Rouen and president of the Metropolis, explains his wish for a later start of the school year. Interview.
–
Lhe public nursery and elementary schools in Rouen will not reopen on Monday 11 May. Why ?
Yvon Robert : “I am very attached to what the schools reopen. It’s my personal conviction. I am not sure that this is the conviction of everyone. This is very important from an educational, psychological and social point of view. Six months of cut-off for children from 5 years old would be extremely harmful. And of course I include middle and high school students. Secondary schools must also reopen before the summer vacation. “
This attachment “ staff “At school encourages you to postpone the reopening of your schools until May 25 …
“The City of Rouen manages 54 schools, 28 nursery schools and 26 elementary schools. 700 municipal officers [animateurs, agents d’entretien, cuisiniers, assistantes maternelles…] are concerned with the proper functioning of these establishments. A resumption of school can only be concerted, and it takes time.
And the third element that is important is that we received the National Education health protocol on Monday, May 4. We first learned about the Scientific Council’s sanitary protocol, which was relatively light. However, the final document has 54 pages! The sanitary requirements are important, strict and rigorous. This protocol includes in particular a requirement in terms of the products to be used – virucides – to disinfect premises, objects … Suddenly, we need time to organize ourselves and get the whole machine back on track. With the exception of personnel who have been mobilized since March 16 to supervise the children of nursing staff, all the others are concerned, until May 11, by the general containment plan for the population. To comply with the state health protocol, it takes us fifteen days to organize this start of the school year. This is not a Rouen specificity. As chairman of the Education Commission of France Urbaine, I had long discussions with my fellow mayors of big cities, and everyone makes the same observation. And I would like to emphasize one last point: family volunteering. A serious and solid organization is not possible to set up with a random starting postulate which is: “families will have a choice”. This is an additional complication which is a source of disorganization. “
–
“Elementary students will have two days of class per week”
You went much faster to clean up the schools after the Lubrizol cloud passed in September …
“It has absolutely nothing to do! Very few schools were involved in cleaning. The main thing was to get rid of the soot. Today, we are faced with an invisible virus that can be embedded on anything and everywhere. It is necessary to carry out a complete cleaning, inside as outside, of surfaces, walls, furniture, educational and playful objects … It is a considerable task. “
How will this fall start from Monday, May 25 ?
“We have decided to favor elementary schools. The CP, CM2 and CE1 REP / REP + classes will return on Monday 25 May. The other classes – up to 15 children per class to respect the national protocol – will be welcomed from Thursday, May 28. And from June 2[monday1[lelundi1er June is Whit Monday], and until July 4 inclusive, all children will have two days of class per week. The two days they are not in class, they will have a program to follow at home. Children will have six weeks of school before the summer vacation. School is going to rhythm their lives again and this is essential. We will open the recreation centers every day – from Monday to Friday inclusive – so that teachers, municipal staff, nursing staff and other frontline staff against the epidemic who have schoolchildren can have a childcare solution during those two classless days. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate all children in our centers. “
What fate do you reserve for children attending kindergarten ?
“The health protocol is” unplayable “for very small and small sections. We are concentrating all the staff on elementary schools and we will take stock of this “first” return around June 8. We will then consider reopening the kindergartens, but only for large sections. “
And what the president of the Metropolis of Rouen recommends to his 70 fellow mayors ?
“The school is a municipal competence. I of course exchanged with each other on this subject. But everyone manages their schools as they wish. The Metropolis plays no role. “
Could this organization be renewed in September ?
“Nobody knows what’s going to happen on this deadline. This is why it is important to reopen before the summer holidays in order to test this new organization. “
–
“The dialogue will continue”
”
The dialogue will continue in the coming days “, assured Monday evening
Olivier Wambecke, the academic director of the National Education services (Dasen) in Seine-Maritime. The
rectorate does not despair of convincing a maximum of elected officials to open the classes by the
May 11, presenting this return as a necessity ”
social justice measure “.
”
There are two options, depending on whether the classes are less than 15 or more than 15 students, recalls Olivier Wambecke.
In the second case, we are studying with the communities the possibilities of taking charge of part of the students with the famous 2S2C [sport, santé, culture, civisme, NDLR]
. It will also be an opportunity to alternate distance and face-to-face teaching. “
It is a case by case work carried out with elected officials, insists Olivier Wambecke. ”
National Education is by their side “, he adds. In all cases, ”
we know that the recovery will not be on the same model as before ” and that it will necessarily be
“ progressive “, underlines the Dasen.
In Dieppe, Nicolas Langlois announces an opening on May 18
–
Nicolas Langlois, the mayor of Dieppe. (Photo DR)
– –
–
Nicolas Langlois, the mayor of Dieppe. (Photo DR)
– –
“ We will not be opening on May 11 and for a simple reason, it is that the conditions are not met for a return of students next week.
First there is the bottom. The idea that school is on a voluntary basis, I don’t care. School in France is compulsory, republican education leads to the same school for all. There, we are far from all that. The deconfinement of the school is like the rest of the deconfinement general : it’s rushed, it’s rough. For schools, we are in a situation where each mayor does as he can, each family does as he wants, so it is the deconfinement each in his corner.
There is a strong containment strategy that has led to being two months away from home, cut off from the world, so deconfinement cannot be a mess. The president announced mid-April the possible resumption of the school for May 11, however, we received in the town halls the protocol
National Education sanitary only Sunday ! When we see the organizational constraints for teachers, municipal staff and childcare,
it takes more than four days to
organize that. I do not want to endorse this rush, because it sums up the school to a daycare for the Medef, but I have another idea of the school.
In Dieppe, we are planning an opening on May 18, but always without illusion. We will be on an educational masquerade : no exchange between students, 4 m² around each student, ban on handling the same objects, no contact in the courtyard … And we are also told that the start of the new school year in September will be under these conditions ! Me, I would have preferred that by July each student could have contact with his teacher, by class, over a few days, and above all that something be put in place to hang up the students in greatest difficulty. However, volunteering prevents that. Many will escape it and it is not acceptable. I don’t want to be involved in spoiling families’ trust in the school.
By opening May 18, it gives us one more week for teachers and teams to effectively prepare classrooms, plan for a minimum reception of just a few students in all kindergartens and elementary schools. In the end, it will be a very limited reception, because the return rate of families is very low. “
A list of refractory municipalities that has continued to grow
–
Elected officials regret the lack of time and information. (Photo Stéphanie Péron / PN)
– –
–
Elected officials regret the lack of time and information. (Photo Stéphanie Péron / PN)
– –
This is a very heterogeneous school map that is gradually taking shape in the region for next week.
While the rectorate spoke on Monday of a proportion ”
very marginal “, the list of municipalities announcing the non-reopening of schools next week did not stop growing, yesterday. This is the case, among others, in Eure,
Pîtres, of
Alizay… but also municipalities of
Saint-Éloi-de-Fourques,
Saint-Paul-de-Fourques,
Bosrobert and
Malleville-sur-le-Bec, grouped in the same solar syndicate. The four mayors have issued a municipal order closing the extracurricular, school and canteen until further notice.
Same for the grouping
Longueville-sur-Scie/
Cricket/
Saint-Crespin, in Seine-Maritime. Furthermore, in the emblematic case of
Rouen In addition, in the department, those of
Dieppe, of
Tréport,
Big Sales, of
Écrainville, or even
Saint-Valery-en-Caux…
In the seaside city,
Dominique Chauvel, departing mayor forced to extend his mandate due to the lack of completed elections, has chosen ”
focus efforts on a single school group in the city “, reserved – subject to proof – to parents who are forced to work and have no means of childcare. There is no question, however, of reopening the three other schools in the city as things stand. ”
I continue my mandate out of a sense of duty vis-à-vis the Republic. But if the state absolutely wants to reopen them, I’ll leave them the keys, and they’ll come and manage “, annoys the elected official, who deplores the lack of time and information for a peaceful resumption of classes.
“ There is no obligation “
In the wake of the announcement made in Rouen, a letter from
Yvon Robert, this time as president of the Métropole Rouen Normandie, was addressed in this sense to the prefect of the Region
Pierre-André Durand. With the signatures of forty other mayors thus extending the list of refractory municipalities:
Le Petit-Quevilly,
Canteleu,
Sotteville-lès-Rouen,
Franqueville-Saint-Pierre,
Cleon,
Elbeuf… ”
Today, we note that the calendar has become untenable and we alert you, taking into account the responsibilities of the State in this situation “, alert the missive.
The prefect’s response will be made public on Wednesday, Pierre-André Durand said yesterday at
Paris-Normandy. But already, the representative of the state wants to be conciliatory. ”
There is no obligation to open schools Tuesday, May 12 at 8 a.m. “, says the regional prefect, who says ”
very optimistic “ as for the discussions ”
constructive “ between the state and local communities. ”
We will be very flexible on the schedule and terms “ of resumption of school, reassures Pierre-André Durand. The date of 11 and 12 May is basically nothing more than a starting point from which the municipalities will remain free to choose. ”
They can for example focus their efforts on a single establishment, or on pivotal levels “, replied the prefect indirectly to Dominique Chauvel.
“ That we stop infantilizing them “
”
I’m not very worried, the dialogue continues “, he adds, while nevertheless evoking the need to ”
take the plunge “. Dominique Chauvel, she says she is open to ”
a milestone in June, to prepare for the start of September in good conditions “. In the meantime, she said, very few wishes for education have reached the school, which remains open in Saint-Valery-en-Caux. ”
People have reservations. They need to be told
the truth, and that we stop infantilizing them. ”
– .
