The parents of Nicolas, 15, who committed suicide after being harassed, had received a letter which considered the accusation of the staff of the establishment “unacceptable”. Antoine, who alerted the rectorate to alleged sexual touching of his daughter, assures franceinfo that he received a letter with identical tone and content.
The Versailles rectorate is once again singled out for a letter addressed to parents. This time, the case concerns an after-school leader accused of sexual assault by an 11-year-old student in Andrésy (Yvelines). After reporting the facts to the rectorate, Antoine, the little girl’s father, expressed surprise in an email at the lack of reaction from, in particular, the school management. He received a response from the rectorate two months later. In this letter, the same words as those in the letter sent to the parents of Nicolas, this harassed teenager who ended up committing suicide at the beginning of September. Antoine agreed to testify on Friday September 22 on franceinfo. He denounces “the systemic side of this kind of response, the absurd, inhuman side” and assures that at no time did he have “made threats”.
>> Gabriel Attal “condemns” the “terms” of a new letter from the Versailles rectorate to a father who had filed a complaint for touching his daughter
In this letter, the Versailles rectorate once again urges parents to “adopt a constructive and respectful attitude”, towards National Education staff. Letters of the same type were sent to other families, the ministry admitted to franceinfo.
franceinfo: How did things go for you?
Anthony: In mid-May, I received a letter from the Academy of Versailles. This is the one that Nicolas’ parents received, with the difference that they erased “harassment” and put in place “sexual touching”. I have a very big misunderstanding on first reading because they indicate that it appeared that the procedure in force, in this case, was completely respected. But in my opinion, no, it was not respected at all, since we were not informed that our child was questioned by a person outside the school, under the responsibility of the principal. The police are not notified, the prosecutor is not notified, the National Education hierarchy has not been notified, so in my opinion, there is a problem.
“At first, I don’t understand this letter. On re-reading, I realize that it is very vindictive, that these are thinly veiled threats of prosecution to protect staff.”
HAS When did you make the connection with the letter sent to Nicolas’s parents?
When it aired a few days ago. I have heard a number of extracts read out and that is word for word what I have in my letter. This reopened a certain amount of anger. I told myself that it was a copy and paste, that they were doing it on an assembly line. They don’t think about the situation, there is no empathy, no humanity, we don’t try to find out where the fault is, where the problem is, the difficulties. You, parents, stay in your place and be quiet!
Who do you blame?
I blame the rectorate for not putting itself in our position and not understanding that faced with this type of event, the lack of explanations, we can only feel anger, at least anger. irritation. I did not make any threats against the director. I simply said that for me, there was failure to assist a person in danger and that I was going to file a complaint against X to shed light on this. I indirectly blame the director. I can understand that in this kind of situation one might panic, not feel comfortable with the subject, not knowing what to do. The director would have called us to tell us that she didn’t know what to do, that she had panicked, that she should have called us, for me, there was no need for further explanation and we would move on. thing.
What does this letter mean to you?
This denotes a rather crazy lightness, a failure to take personal situations into account. I think it’s done in a chain fashion: one person receives this in their mailbox and copies and pastes it. There may be no means, no agents and no time to investigate, or call the parents to try to get an explanation. I tried to contact the mediator, but I have not heard back. The testimony that I am giving is not in a personal capacity, it is to demonstrate the systemic side of this kind of response, the absurd, inhuman side. We are not the only parents to have this kind of letter, I think it is a standard letter that is sent as soon as a parent dares to ask a question.