Classes finally resumed on Thursday, September 26 at 1:30 p.m. at Mallarmé College, in the 13the district of Marseille. For two days, this establishment of just over 400 students, classified in the reinforced priority education network (REP+), was at the center of media attention, pushing the authorities to react to respond to teachers’ alerts on the security of the college. The new Minister of National Education, Anne Genetet, thus cancelled her first trip, planned for Thursday morning, to hold a meeting on the “securing establishments” – which was not reported – and speak by telephone with local authorities.
The Mallarmé teachers had decided to exercise their right to withdraw on Tuesday morning. For these thirty teachers, most of whom were familiar with teaching conditions in the northern districts of Marseille, it was no longer possible to welcome the middle school students peacefully. The cause was the increased pressure exerted by drug trafficking, particularly the nearby drug dealing point, located in the Clos La Rose estate.
“Since the start of the school year, we have seen a deterioration in the situation” testifies, under cover of anonymity, a member of the teaching team. A graffiti “Coffee La Rose”indicating the drug dealing point, was drawn on the wall of the college. A fire lit by the network’s lookouts damaged the enclosure. Armchairs, a smashed sofa, obstacles limiting traffic also appeared.
Gunshot impacts on the facade
First records indicating a “serious and imminent danger” were sent to the Aix-Marseille rectorate on September 11. The discovery of gunshot impacts on the facade of the establishment – “little lead balls” which, according to the police headquarters, are not “not necessarily linked” the proximity of the network – raised the concern a notch and pushed the teaching team to exercise its right of withdrawal to “failure to protect and ensure the safety of students and staff”.
This qualification was initially rejected by the academic director of national education services (Dasen), Jean-Yves Bessol. “The right of withdrawal has not been established since, although the danger is real and serious, it is not imminent given that the situation has continued since November 2023,” he said in the press, considering that the teachers’ movement was “a strike”. “The hierarchy did not offer a response appropriate to the seriousness of the situation experienced by our colleagues,” regrets Jean-François Negri, delegate of the Sud Education union.
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