How a rumor after the classroom screening of a painting representing naked women revealed a crisis situation within a college in Yvelines

The teachers exercised their right of withdrawal after an incident that occurred in class, when one of their colleagues showed students a painting representing naked women. A rumor about racist comments made by the teacher then spread.

Rumors from the corridors which bring to light a large-scale crisis. Teachers from the Jacques-Cartier college in Issou (Yvelines) exercised their right of withdrawal, Friday December 8 and Monday December 11, after one of their colleagues was targeted by a rumor evoking racist remarks. The government reacted. Franceinfo returns to the facts.

It all starts in French class on Thursday. In front of a 6th grade class, a teacher shows Diana and Actaeona 17th century painting by an Italian painter, Giuseppe Cesari known as the Rider of Arpin, on which the Latin goddess and her nymphs are represented naked.

Three students then look away. At the time, these three girls gave no explanation as to the reasons for their reaction, according to information collected by the Versailles rectorate, communicated to franceinfo on Tuesday December 12. For her part, the French teacher does not try to find out more and does not ask them any questions. The course ends.

“Little by little, it’s going up.”

Events then get out of hand. A rumor, according to which the French teacher made racist and Islamophobic comments during this class hour, is spreading within the college. “Little by little, it’s growing. Everyone is starting to believe it. It’s a little stressful to have rumors circulating, we don’t really know what’s true or false,” testifies a student of the establishment on franceinfo.

Another teacher, head teacher of this 6th grade class, decides to organize a time for discussion with her students during an hour of class life, based on information collected by the Versailles rectorate. During this exchange, the three girls who looked away say they were “uncomfortable” in front “naked bodies” of the table, without explaining their reaction by a religious reason, always according to the elements collected by the rectorate.

They admit to having started a rumor about supposed comments made by their French teacher and apologize. The rectorate specifies that the turn of events has caused concern among the teacher targeted by the rumor, who is also experienced.

“The wound of the assassination of Samuel Paty” revived

The rumor goes back to the students’ families. “Some parents stepped up to the plate: it took on a crazy scale and created an unacceptable situation”explains to franceinfo the president of the Union of Parents’ Associations of Public Education (Peep) of the Versailles academy. “If the context was calmer, this would have almost gone unnoticed,” estimates Laurent Zameczkowski, who specifies that he does not have a referent at the Issou college. Neither the Federation of Parents’ Councils (FCPE), nor the president of the establishment’s independent parents’ association, have so far responded to franceinfo’s requests.

“When you have a situation of mistrust that sets in, a kind of vicious circle is created.”

Laurent Zameczkowski, president of the Union of Associations of the Peep de Versailles

at franceinfo

For Catherine Nave-Bekhti, general secretary of the General Union of National Education CFDT (SGEN-CFDT), the situation at Jacques-Cartier college “revives the memory and the wound of the assassination of Samuel Paty, with a start that looks exactly like it”. “Obviously, the starting point, that is to say a course contested by the students, rumors circulating about our colleague, all of this brings back bad memories”, also echoed on franceinfo Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of the Snes-FSU union, Tuesday. This is what explains, according to her, that this “case had a particular resonance” within a “long-lastingly marked profession”.

“An establishment that called for help”

Such a context also explains why all of the establishment’s staff exercised their right of withdrawal. They returned to work on Tuesday and classes took place without incident, according to the Versailles rectorate.

Contacted by franceinfo on Tuesday, two teachers from the college preferred not to speak. However, the French professor targeted by the rumor and her colleagues justified their use of the right of withdrawal in a letter dated Friday addressed to the academic management, which franceinfo was able to consult. “Faced with acts of slander, defamation, a multiplication and aggravation of incidents and attacks on secularism, we were forced to exercise our right of withdrawal”write the teachers.

Teachers mention 16 incidents recorded since the start of the school year, compared to three last year, as well as recurring and aggressive challenges by certain families to educational practices. According to information from franceinfo, the principal wrote a letter to parents in November, to try to put an end to behavior deemed inappropriate. “It’s a school that has been calling for help since at least December 1”reports the representative of SGEN-CFDT, who evokes a “personal lack of school life, a CPE [conseillère principale d’éducation] at 80% and an establishment which accommodates a greater number of students than the capacity for which it was built”.

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back in a very degraded school climate.”

Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of the Snes-FSU union

at franceinfo

Teachers at Jacques-Cartier college in Issou “also say that it is terribly revealing to get to this point, to obtain even the attention of the institution, and to obtain resources”continues Sophie Vénétitay.

The cry of alarm launched by the teams seems in any case to have been heard: the Minister of Education, who visited the college on Monday afternoon, announced that positions would be set up in “reinforcement of school life teams”, “a CPE position, but also reinforcements for education assistants and AESH [accompagnants des élèves en situation de handicap]“.

A disciplinary procedure against the three students

At the same time, Gabriel Attal decreed the deployment of a “values ​​of the Republic” academic team at the college. A pair arrived on site on Tuesday, the Versailles rectorate confirms to franceinfo. He is responsible for discussing and training management staff on secularism. These two people also came to support a time of discussion with teachers, in order to answer students’ questions on this subject. “Their intervention will be continued as long as the college management deems it necessary,” underlines the rectorate.

Furthermore, “a disciplinary procedure” was launched “towards the students responsible for this situation and who have also admitted the facts”, according to the Minister of Education. Tuesday, during the question session to the government in the National Assembly, Gabriel Attal clarified that this procedure had been opened in the morning. It is now up to the principal, who is currently on sick leave until the end of the week, like his deputy, to decide on possible sanctions.