“When I arrived at the start of the school year and saw my schedule, I said to myself but what is that? ” says Mathilde, a first-year general student at Doisneau high school in Corbeil-Essonnes. Since the beginning of the week, the question of timetables has been at the heart of discussions among first-year and final-year general students at this establishment.
In this small group of students posted in front of the entrance to the high school, there is competition in examples, each more absurd than the last. “A girl in my class, on Mondays, she has nine hours of leave…” “Me, they put my classes starting at 7:30…” “There are also some who finish at 7 p.m., and at that time, there are no more buses.” Mathilde is one of these students whose lunch break has been greatly reduced: some days, she only has… 25 minutes for lunch.
“It’s even worse for me, I don’t even have a lunch break on Wednesdays,” adds Hanoki. “We compare ourselves, we play at who has the worst schedule,” laughs one of them. Behind this adolescent laughter, there is above all a lot of anxiety at the time when we are preparing for the baccalaureate. “We wonder how we are going to do it,” says Mayssa. Normally, the start of the school year always goes well, we get our schedule back and we adapt, but now it’s impossible to adapt…”
Schedules arrived… on the night of Sunday to Monday
More than 3,000 students, about 250 teachers. The Robert-Doisneau high school in Corbeil-Essonnes is a real machine. A machine whose cogs can seize up in no time… That’s what happened this back-to-school season. On Friday, August 30, as is customary, the dozens of teachers at this technological and general high school had their pre-back-to-school session. A day during which they are supposed to discover the organization planned for the upcoming school year. And in particular the timetables.
Except that this time, no schedule is sent to them. In the minds of these teachers, an alarm signal goes off. Under these conditions, the start of the school year cannot take place on Monday, September 2. “We asked for it to be postponed, but the management thought that it could be resolved,” explains Antonin, a first and final year teacher. “It happens that we need to make marginal adjustments, that’s normal. But not having the timetables is unheard of.”
On Monday, as the final year students returned to school — the first year students were scheduled for Tuesday and the second year students for Wednesday — their bad feeling was confirmed. While the teachers finally received their personal timetables on the night of Sunday to Monday, their students’ timetables were still missing. “We welcomed the final year students without them,” laments the very angry teaching staff. “They went home without knowing how the year was going to go…” It was only the next day that they received their timetables.
Classes suspended Friday and Saturday
And the surprise was huge for these first and final year students: no lunch break for some, extended hours for others, classes scheduled for Wednesday afternoons… The teachers can’t believe it. “Sometimes, there’s not even the name of the room, the students don’t know where they’re supposed to go,” explains Antoine. “Every year, we make adjustments, but it’s never reached this level,” laments Hélène.
Faced with the situation, the teaching staff finally decided to go on strike this Thursday, September 5. A meeting was then organized in a hurry, the academic director of the national education services (DASEN) of the Versailles rectorate agreed to receive a delegation of teachers. “The Dasen recognized that the situation was very problematic, explains Antonin, a teacher at the establishment. It was therefore decided that the first and final year classes would be suspended tomorrow and the day after (Friday and Saturday). »
“The timetables will be completely redone”
A former assistant principal of the establishment is currently in the walls to carry out an audit. According to the teaching team, the overhaul of the organization will be complete. “The timetables will be completely redone, the groups will be reviewed, some students will perhaps also change classes,” summarizes the teacher.
For its part, the Versailles academy confirmed the meeting. “The discussions allowed for a shared diagnosis of the situation and the implementation of support actions. The DSDEN (Direction des services départementaux de l’Éducation nationale) of Essonne continues to closely monitor the situation so that the students’ return to school takes place in the best possible conditions after the necessary arrangements have been put in place.”
