About ten families and thirty children living in Mayens-de-Saxon have been fighting for years to be entitled to school transport. The canton agreed with them, but the municipality appealed to the Federal Court.
To mark the start of the new school year, and war weary of not being heard, the students of Mayens-de-Saxon organized a formal demonstration to obtain a bus to go to school.
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“When the circumstances of place and time so require, the municipal administration is required to organize free transport for children from nursery school, primary school and orientation cycle with a walk of more than ‘a half hour”. This is the cantonal law of Valais, which should be respected in all municipalities. But in that of Saxon (VS), the municipality does not understand it that way. Ten families with around thirty children living in the Mayens-de-Saxon have been demanding for years that the municipal administration provide them with a school bus to go down the winding road of about 8 kilometers which joins the plain and the school. .
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There was a time when this type of transport existed, before the town removed it, claiming that the area is touristy and that the public service is reduced. Parents appealed to the Council of State, which ruled in their favor. The municipality appealed against this decision to the Cantonal Court, where it lost. Neither one nor two, she decided to appeal this time to the Federal Court. During a primary assembly in July, the president of the municipality of Saxon, Christian Roth, had raised the cost of this transport too high, between 4,500 and 5,000 francs per child.
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Compensation?
At another primary assembly, a citizen declared that the children had only to “go down to school on foot”. This is what they did on Tuesday, August 18, calling on the media so that the municipality does not forget its obligations. After two victories before the political and judicial bodies, the families concerned are confident about the verdict of the Federal Court.
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Arrested on Tuesday, the president of the town said in “Le Nouvelliste” that the council had decided on August 10 to offer financial compensation pending the decision of the TF. The families were not aware. A proof that is sometimes worth demonstrating. “But what we want is not compensation, it is a means of transport for our children”, concludes a mother.
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