This is a subject that has crystallized tensions since November 2021, in the town of 3,000 inhabitants of Lansargues (Hérault). Three months ago, around twenty parents testified, anonymously, to the their little one’s discomfort because of the canteen. In the process, around thirty other parents signed letters of support to the offending officers. Despite the intervention of the Agglomeration of the Pays de l’Or, the climate remains very heavy.
children’s words
Toddlers are so traumatized by the canteen that they have nightmares. “He woke up at night asking us if he ate in the canteensays a mother, who, since then, puts him in the canteen as little as possible. We told him ‘don’t think about that, it’s night, it’s bedtime…’. And systematically, when he opened his eyes in the morning, the first question was whether he was going to the canteen.“
He woke up at night asking us if he ate in the canteen – A mother
Why these nightmares? What’s going on in the canteen? Difficult to know precisely because everything is based on children’s words. In these testimonies, the little ones say thatyou have to have lunch quickly and in silence, otherwise, head to the punished table.
There is also the story of the boy who couldn’t eat fast enough. He would have been punished to remain seated on a chair placed in the half-opening of the door which gives onto the playground. Just to see the friends playing without him while he finishes his plate. The rules of procedure of the canteens of the agglomeration stipulate that any punishment, individual or collective, is liable to sanction.
Proofs?
Some have alerted the representatives of the parents of pupils. One of them recognizes a climate of anxiety but does not dare to act, according to this other mother “She told me that one of the people on the team was the mayor’s wife and that she didn’t want to antagonize the town hall.“For the representatives, the problem, it is especially that, after investigation, they did not find any tangible proof.
Moreover, in the process, around 30 parents have signed letters in support of the offending officers. These writings say that their children are very happy to go to the canteen, and that the staff takes care of them.
She told me that one of the people on the team was the mayor’s wife and that she didn’t want to antagonize the town hall – A mother
The difficulties of some children in the kindergarten canteen in Lansargues have reached the ears of the Pays de l’Or Agglomeration, which manages the canteen. In December 2021, the agglomeration decided thata civil servant stays in the canteen every Tuesday to see if there were any issues. She hasn’t raised anything yet. For worried parents, this is not enough.
The mayor and his wife did not wish to respond to our requests.