The Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, announced that he would go to Versailles on Monday to make “an update” with the rector.
Threatening letters sent by the Versailles rectorate to distraught families. After the suicide of young Nicolas in Poissy (Yvelines), the teenager’s parents testified in the press and revealed that they had received a letter criticizing their so-called attitude. “unacceptable” and evoking the criminal risks of inaccurate reporting. A message which aroused the indignation of the government. Especially since a similar letter was sent to another parent of a student, worried about their daughter who was the victim of touching. The executive strongly condemned these threatening letters before launching an audit into cases of harassment in all rectorates last year. The Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, announced in a press release his intention to come Monday September 25 to Versailles to “a point” with the new rector. Franceinfo summarizes the controversy affecting the academy.
1A teenager commits suicide in Poissy
Victim of harassment during the year 2022-2023, young Nicolas committed suicide on Tuesday September 5 at his home in Poissy (Yvelines), the day he returned to a new establishment in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. The 15-year-old boy was found hanging at his home by his mother. However, he had reported the acts of harassment of which he was the victim while he was in the third prep-vocational class at the Adrienne-Bolland vocational high school in Poissy. The student had also made a first suicide attempt in January. A judicial investigation and an administrative investigation were opened after his death. The first elements of the investigation “clearly attest that acts of harassment had been declared during the 2022-2023 school year”announced the Ministry of National Education on September 6.
2 The press reveals a letter from the rectorate
Saturday September 16, BFMTV reveals three letters exchanged by the parents of young Nicolas with educational authorities. The parents first alerted the high school teaching team to acts of harassment against their son, during an interview on March 10, 2023. The following month, they indicated in a letter addressed to the principal that they had filed a complaint with from the Poissy police station, not seeing the arrival “the answer” promised by the educational community. The principal defends himself in a letter dated April 20, outlining the measures put in place. According to him, the teaching staff can “consider that the situation is in the resolution phase”.
Two weeks later, in a letter dated May 4, the Versailles rectorate responded in turn. He denounces an attitude “unacceptable” from the parents of young Nicolas, who “challenged” the staff of the establishment and recalls the criminal sanctions linked to slanderous denunciations. She urges the parents “to henceforth adopt a constructive and respectful attitude towards the members of the educational community”. The teenager’s parents denounce these letters sent by the administration, saying they “outraged and frightened”.
3The government says it is shocked
This letter from the rectorate pushes the government to react. “Obviously, it’s shocking.”, declares Elisabeth Borne. The Prime Minister condemns a judged letter “out of step with the pain of the families”in an interview with BFMTV.
“Clearly, there is a failure in the type of response addressed to extremely worried parents.”
Elisabeth Borne, Prime Ministeron BFMTV
“This mail is a shame”, supports Gabriel Attal in front of the press. On September 18, the Minister of Education brought together all the academy rectors to launch an audit on the cases of school harassment reported last year. He recalls that the conclusions of the administrative investigation launched after the death of the teenager are awaited “within 15 days” and that he will learn all the lessons from it, “including sanctions”.
At the same time, the head of the legal department of the Versailles rectorate filed a complaint on September 20, after he and members of his department received death threats. An investigation is opened for “death threats” and “online hatred”. This is entrusted to the judicial police.
4 A similar letter is revealed
A week later, the Versailles rectorate was once again singled out. On September 22, BFMTV broadcast the testimony of Antoine, another parent of a student. He claims that his 11-year-old daughter was the victim of touching by a municipal agent responsible for after-school activities in Andrésy (Yvelines) at the beginning of 2022. He filed a complaint in March and contacted the Versailles rectorate, which replied to him two months later: “The procedure in force in this case was fully respected.”
The girl’s father found the threatening terms used in the letter addressed to young Nicolas’s parents: “Also, in the interest of your child and out of concern for setting an example towards him, I urge you to henceforth adopt a constructive and respectful attitude towards other members of the educational community”concludes the letter.
“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.”
Antoine, father of an 11 year old girlon franceinfo
Gabriel Attal “sentenced” again “terms” of the rectorate. The case of these two families does not seem isolated: in a press release, the Ministry of Education specifies that according to “the first reports from the audit that it triggered, other letters of this type were sent to several families”.
5 Former rector apologizes
In an interview with Parisian published Saturday September 23, the former rector of Versailles, Charline Avenel, assures that she has not “not aware” mail sent to Nicolas’s parents. According to her, this letter is “inadmissible”. It therefore presents “apologies” in her name and in the name of the rectorate, which she headed at the time of the events.
“I was devastated when I learned of the death of this student. When I discovered the existence of this letter a week ago in the press, I was devastated.”
Charline Avenel, former rector of Versaillesin “The Parisian”
In this interview, Charline Avenel admits to having “validated the principle” of the “letters addressed to families threatening teachers” to remind them of certain legal provisions. But never for families reporting cases of harassment. “I discover that these letters of disapproval have been sent, and I fear in large numbers, indiscriminately, to families in distress”, she laments. She claims not to have been informed of the letter addressed to Andrésy’s father.
This belated mea culpa provokes a reaction: “It was time”, comments Sacha Houlié, president of the Assembly’s law committee, on franceinfo. These excuses “are the least of things considering the brutality of the letter”, also reacts Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of the Snes-FSU union. “I believe in her sincerity, however, she is responsible for this sending”finally believes Laurent Zameczkowski, spokesperson for the Parents of Public Education Students (PEEP) federation, on franceinfo. “Even artificial intelligence is capable of better”he quips, comparing the administration to a “cold and insensitive machine”.