Exclusive interview with Sophie Béjean. The rector went this Tuesday, April 30, in the morning, to Arthur-Rimbaud college to discuss with the staff the conclusions of the administrative investigation following the attack in Samara on April 2.
The conclusions of the flash mission carried out by the Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet, made public this Tuesday, April 30, did not identify any wrongful failure on the part of the staff of the Arthur-Rimbaud college, within the framework of the Samara affair. Is this a satisfaction for the rector that you are?
I am not going to use the term “satisfaction” because it must be remembered that there is a young 13-year-old student, Samara, who was violently attacked. That it is totally inexcusable, whatever the circumstances and I think first of Samara who, obviously, is a student who is not doing well today because there is a physical but above all psychological impact for her.
It is important to emphasize this, first of all, because it led me to take immediate action against the perpetrators of the attack. Precautionary measures and, then, to convene disciplinary councils.
Three of the student authors must appear before a disciplinary council as part of the National Education procedure this week. And two others will be summoned next week. I hope for firmness during his disciplinary councils while respecting, obviously, the contradictory. But I would like to point out that these are facts that the defendants have admitted, according to information from the public prosecutor.
This Tuesday morning, you went to Arthur-Rimbaud college. How did it go ?
Indeed, I went there to discuss with the management team and, more broadly, with the establishment team following the publication of this general inspection report, which is an administrative investigation carried out by the minister. I wanted to be with them to clarify the important points raised by Nicole Belloubet as part of this investigation which, I remind you, is complementary to the judicial investigation, which is being held in parallel under the authority of the justice system.
What is noted in the report is the work that has been done within the framework of the establishment both to support students in general, in terms of preventing harassment, and dealing with harassment situations . And what this report shows is that the team at this establishment is committed. That there are referents who have been trained. That there is monitoring of harassment situations which is real and concrete.
Of course, there are situations which may have led the establishment to take disciplinary procedures and there may be ongoing situations. In any case, the establishment is mobilized both on the prevention of harassment and on the support of the situations which are identified.
In addition, the report shows that the educational teams did what they could do given the information available to them at the time they had to act. This is also an important point because as part of the information that was able to be noted by the administrative investigation, which is carried out by the independent general inspectorate, the general inspectors were able, on the one hand, to consult documents. But also carried out around fifty interviews with teachers, school life, the management team and students.
How were the conclusions received within this establishment?
The team was satisfied that there was an independent administrative investigation which made it possible to objectify the situation and the facts as much as possible. Satisfied that their commitment was able to be objectified. I myself was able to collect a certain amount of information and look at how situations were handled at Rimbaud College and I can tell you that it is a team that is committed to student success. The results are also improving. It is a team which is also committed to the pHARe program (Editor’s note, program to combat bullying at school) and to the safety of its students.
Moreover, the report shows a strong attachment of staff, teachers and non-teachers, to their establishment. Is that what you felt too?
These are teachers, school life teams but also management teams who are attached to their students, to their success, to the support they can provide them. These are people who choose to come to priority education zones. This Rimbaud college is a Rep + college, which belongs to the educational city of Mosson, which welcomes students who may encounter very complex, sometimes difficult social and family situations, and these teachers and teams are very committed.
If the administrative investigation praises the smooth functioning of school life and the teaching team with regard to this problem of harassment, it recommends the assignment of a prevention and security assistant. Are you going to appoint one and what will its mission be?
In some of our establishments which are particularly confronted with situations of violence or with particularly complex students, we may have staff who are security prevention agents. There are a limited number of positions in the Academy. Based on the Academy’s resources, I indicated this Tuesday morning that their request was legitimate and that we will work to respond to it as soon as possible. And, in any case, to stabilize a situation next year.
The harmful role of social networks is also highlighted in the conclusions of this flash mission. What is your analysis on the subject?
This is a major question. Moreover, this point was also noted by the public prosecutor in one of his communications, emphasizing that the origin of the attack in Samara probably came from poor use of social networks by the students. This is a concern for me as rector, for our minister, for the government of course which has initiated an action plan in this area. This is also a concern for teachers and school life teams. At Rimbaud college as elsewhere.
We have a real need to work on the use of telephones and social networks both with students but also with parents to make them responsible, make them aware, give them the keys to act with their children because it is not not easy for them either. There are things that escape adults. The students, at least some of them said so, became aware that the misuse of social networks and the failure to alert adults could be dangerous. So we have to work together.
I spoke with the establishment team but also with my academic delegate for media and information education and we are going to make proposals and support the establishment’s projects which will address this concern.
What are they ?
First, offer activities to students both within and outside of school. We talked about activities with bicycles, with sport, with neighborhood associations… We have funding resources with the educational city. We talked about a theater club project, we have financing means with the “Cture pass”. We also talked about a parents’ café to give them some keys to taking action in this area. And that goes beyond the action plan of the government and the ministry.
These social networks are truly a scourge. There is a general mobilization that is necessary for our students to escape this. Escape these forms of algorithms and tensions that develop on social networks which, unfortunately, can escape adults, parents and educational staff.
“Samara did not talk to adults about the difficulties she was experiencing,” the report states. Isn’t that the root of the problem? What advice would you give to victims of school bullying?
Any situation of harassment is a situation that is not acceptable. And often a student who is the victim of bullying finds himself isolated and no longer has any friends, so it is not easy to speak out in these circumstances. However, there are several solutions. Firstly, 3018, which is a unique listening number that allows you to guide and mobilize.
But there are also people trained in the establishments. At Rimbaud College, for example, there are around ten referent adults who may be school life staff, the nurse and teachers. It is important to get closer to them and for the students to have this confidence. We have to work to make progress in this area.
I also note that Samara was received in January by a harassment representative. If she didn’t speak at the time, perhaps she thought the situation was resolved. At least from his point of view.
