The release of a video of a school teacher violently beating one of her 3-year-old students sparked controversy on Tuesday. The rector of the academy reacted, as did the resigned Minister of National Education. Voices are being raised to denounce other actions of this teacher.
On Monday, September 9, a video recorded by a parent of a student present in the classroom shows a teacher blows violently on the back of a little girl in tearsin a kindergarten in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, circulated on social networks. The facts date back to September 3, the day after the start of the school year.
These images are terribly shocking and unacceptable in our School.
I immediately requested that disciplinary proceedings be initiated, with the teacher's immediate suspension.
I send all my support to the victim and his family who are being cared for. https://t.co/5yUT9SgKM7
— Nicole Belloubet (@NBelloubet) September 9, 2024
“Shame on the school”, in the words of the outgoing Minister of National Education Nicole Belloubet who told X, “terribly shocked by these images”. The launch “without delay of a disciplinary procedure, with the immediate suspension of the teacher”, was requested by the latter.
For its part, the family of the abused student filed a complaint on September 5 to denounce violence aggravated by three circumstances: against a vulnerable person, in a school unit and committed by a person performing a public service mission. In addition to the physical consequences of this act, the child would suffer from a certain psychological trauma, according to the family's lawyer, Me Vanessa Edberg. “The girl has already seen a doctor, she will see one more to assess her ITT. The first doctor assessed her psychological damage as 'severe' because the girl does not look others in the eye or face and refuses to talk about the mistress” , according to Me Edberg.
A former victim recognized her former teacher
The teacher was immediately suspended from his duties, but other testimonies suggest that this woman's violent temper was known to the teaching staff at this kindergarten in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
On BFMTV, a mother recounts, with a lump in her throat, that her son confessed to her that he received “a slap” from this teacher more than 10 years ago. “I confronted the teacher, I asked to see the principal,” she confesses. But the two women rejected the allegation, saying the child may have “seen it in a book”.
Was the rectory aware?
The story does not end here since this mother claims to have written to the rector, filing a report about this teacher. The rector of the Paris academy, Bernard Beignier, visited the Frères-Voisin school to talk to the teachers. He assured during a press briefing that he was taking “things very seriously” in this affair which he considered “unacceptable”.
“I signed this (Tuesday) morning the suspension order for this teacher, which is not a sanction, but a protective measure, and then there will be both a criminal investigation since a complaint was filed, and an administrative investigation that certainly , could lead to a disciplinary board, or even sanctions ranging from reprimand to dismissal,” said the chancellor. The teacher was immediately replaced in his classroom and will be summoned “in the coming days for questioning,” according to Bernard Beignier.
A teacher must ensure the safety of students
For their part, the unions and elected officials are outraged by this video, filmed in the presence of a student's parent. Is the teacher “holding back”, as the lawyer for the family of the 3-year-old child assured? This gesture is in any case a serious professional misconduct for Guislaine David, general secretary of FSU-Snuipp, the main primary school union (nursery and elementary). “As teachers, we must ensure the physical and emotional safety of students,” she insisted to AFP.
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“It is completely unbearable, this behavior is unspeakable, coming from a confirmed teacher who has been in this school for ten years already,” Philippe Goujon, the LR mayor of the 15th arrondissement of Paris told BFMTV.
We learned this Tuesday afternoon that a preliminary investigation has been opened by the Nanterre public prosecutor's office.