“We’re going to save the school! We’re going to save the school!” At the end of their classes, the toddlers from the Marmuzots school in Dijon sing this chorus and rush for a snack, hot chocolate and cookies, prepared by their parents.
They meet to exchange their latest information, while the elected officials of Dijon will address the issue of this school in the municipal council on Monday, December 13. The online petition launched by parents goes beyond the school framework and already has several hundred signatures.
West of town, this school counts 3 kindergarten classes for 61 students. If the town hall wants to close it, it is because the workforce is declining, and the premises are really dilapidated. They are prefabricated, which must be air-conditioned during the summer and difficult to heat during the winter. The project is therefore to transfer these 3 kindergarten classes to Victor Hugo school which is located a little further in the same district, but this idea does not please Christa Sempertéguy, one of the mothers of students. “We would end up with 7 kindergarten classes and 10 elementary classes. We don’t want our children to cram into structures that are not on their scale. I prefer my children to be in small structures, especially with the conditions. current sanitary facilities. “
– Olivier Estran
School mega-city?
“We all care about this school” complete Aurélie Greffier, another mother. “I came to settle 100 meters from here because it is a school on a human scale. Imagine putting your children in a school with 180 children in kindergarten? It’s a heresy! And then the demographic argument which explains that we are losing students is based only on the figures for this year. Look, we are building buildings nearby. Children there will be! “
Parents denounce in their petition the creation of a “school megalopolis”. A term that refutes Franck Lehénoff, deputy mayor in charge of schools : “No, other Dijon schools have 5 or 6 classes and they are not” School Megacities “. In these cases, the school teams and the families know each other. The camaraderie of the children also exists, whereas there is has 120 to 150 students. “
– Olivier Estran
The parents of the students have planned to come and follow the Dijon city council this Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. It is not a question of disrupting it, but of making itself visible while the elected officials will vote the 2022 budget and address a school plan which plans to invest 75 million euros over the next 10 years. Parents would like elected officials to look at their renovation idea: rebuild the school, include out-of-school care and housing for the elderly in order to mix the generations.