SXMElections.com

MARIGOT--Teacher’s Union Syndicat National Enseignants Second Degré (SNES-FSU) has voiced a number of concerns about Cité Scolaire’s timetable in an open letter to President Aline Hanson, indicating it has been left in the dark, deprived of progress reports from the various committees, and says questions have been met with “silence,” “evasiveness,” or answers have been changed from what the union was originally told.

   The Collectivité has previously boasted the 17-million-euro project La Savane is “well on track” for an opening this coming September, just six months away. Yet the union says it needs answers on a number of important points, some of which pertain to how the transition of teachers and pupils to the new facility will be done.

“Which of the present establishments are going to occupy the new buildings in La Savane?” asked union representative Laurent Bayly. “How will the transition of pupils and teachers be done? What resources will there be to accompany these transitions? How will the transfer of teachers from Lycée General et Technologique (LGT) be done? Will the classrooms be wired for 21st century technology? Teachers have a right to know what sort of conditions they are going to be working in. To not know where and what conditions we will be working in is just unacceptable and shows a lack of respect towards the teachers.”

He said the union could not be blamed if teachers refused to work or went on strike at the opening, since the union has been seeking clarity and answers months in advance, which also gives ample time for corrections to be made if necessary.

The Collectivité has partly responded to the concerns by saying the majority of pupils living in Sandy Ground will be occupying the building in La Savane. It said also the Collectivité’s Direction of Education will be meeting with parents this week on how this transfer will be done.

Recteur’s representative Jean-Marie Jespere added that the decision on which pupils go where is made by the Collectivité in conjunction with the Rectorat (Academy of Guadeloupe).

The Collectivité has confirmed that Cité Scolaire will consist of a Lycée and Collège, to accommodate 954 pupils in total.