“Such carelessness becomes problematic”: at the Jeu-de-Mail college in Montpellier, a return to school marked by concerns

Le collège du Jeu-de-Mail compte aujourd'hui 580 élèves. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART

Security, student supervision: all staff are requesting urgent resources and the classification of the establishment in a priority education zone. A fight, followed by an attempted intrusion, were the triggers for the mobilization of staff.

The facts date back to November 16. This Thursday before classes resumed in the afternoon, a fight broke out between students in front of the entrance to the Jeu-de-Mail college, near Saint-Éloi. A young girl receives several blows with sticks and has to be taken to hospital. A few moments later, members of his family, alerted, decided to go to the establishment which has a little more than 580 middle school students in order to find the author of the beatings… An intrusion alert is triggered until the police intervene. 

"Left Abandoned"

This incident, which occurred a few days before that at the Silver Cross College, caused great excitement within the establishment. The teachers and administrators, contract agents decide to meet urgently to discuss the situation. A motion was signed by 54 people, a very large majority of staff, and addressed to the rectorate. The signatories deplore the lack of means of supervising students and a gradual deterioration of teaching conditions, particularly since the start of the school year in September. "The students jostle, fight, and increasingly damage the premises. Students are often unsupervised in the corridors, in the hall, near the toilets" they report.

"Since May, we have had three bomb threats. These recurring events worry us all the more as we see that we are being left abandoned in the face of societal problems, insists the press release published this Friday, just before the end of the end-of-year holidays. rsquo;year. "There is a real demand for change, the situation is delicate" observes a history-geography teacher. 

"This motion is a first in the establishment. We are at such a point of carelessness that it becomes problematic. And there is no desire to change, notes an experienced colleague. 

Be classified in ZEP 

This feeling of abandonment has been fueled until now by the lack of response from the rectorate to their motion. "We are surprised and shocked to have received to date no response to our request for a hearing to express our concerns for our students and staff" regret the text signed by FO, SNES-FSU and Sud. "I have no doubt that the request for a hearing will be successful" puts Mathieu Marchal, the FO departmental secretary for middle and high schools, into perspective who, on the other hand, wonders about the fate that will be reserved for "emergency" requests made by staff. These relate in particular to the recruitment of half a position of principal education advisor and three full-time education assistants, a protection and security agent and of a full-time nurse. But the request made a priority is the classification of the college in a priority education zone which would allow the granting of additional resources. Since the start of the school year, the number of scholarship students welcomed has increased by 44.4% and a quarter of its students are students from neighborhoods classified as priority in city policy. "All the staff are doing their best but exhaustion and the real feeling of helplessness are affecting all the staff" adds the text published on Friday .

“The solution is priority zone classification”

According to Éric Marchal, the departmental secretary Foce uvrière for high schools and colleges, the&rsquo The concern strongly expressed by the Jeu-de-Mail staff is shared in other establishments. "There is currently a rise in staff dissatisfaction" he explains. This is particularly observed in colleges excluded from priority education zones. "In Hérault, several are demanding their ZEP classification. Because it’s the solution to having the means they need. There are two à Agde, a à Béziers and Jeu-de-Mail. À at some point we can no longer teach in the same conditions as three or four years ago" notes the union official.

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