Alexandre Avril, mayor (UDR) of Salbris (Loir-et-Cher) organized a snack for schoolchildren to celebrate “Saint-Nicolas”. He was outraged at X that a teacher in his town had reported him to the Academy inspector for “violating secularism”. Report which does not exist. But since then, the school teacher has suffered an outpouring of hatred with calls for rape and death threats justifying her functional protection. Here’s what we know about this case.
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While last week, the mayor of Salbris, Alexandre Avril and the rectorate explained to France 3 that the matter was settled, this is apparently not the case.
“It appears to be a misunderstanding between the two parties, and we are confident that the situation will calm down quickly.“It was first the rectorate of the Orléans-Tours Academy which delayed the matter on December 4, 2024, then Alexandre Avril, the mayor Union of Rights for the Republic (UDR) de Salbris who explained that “itThis is a snack that will take place outside of school hours so there is no violation of secularism. I removed my post. So it’s settled. ”
Contacted on December 4 by France 3 Centre-Val de Loire, the rectorate of the Orléans-Tours academy and Alexandre Avril, the mayor of Salbris, therefore deemed the Saint-Nicolas snack affair closed. This was without taking into account the consequences of the message posted by the elected official on the social network
Alexandre Avril, the mayor of Salbris, published this message on the social network
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© DR
At the beginning of December, the mayor of the town invites parents of students on December 6 at 4:30 p.m. via the electronic school notebook “at a Saint-Nicolas tea party to celebrate the new hall of Salbris”, explains Alexandre Avril.
“We had an exchange with one of the teachers who considered that this was an expectation of secularism. She asked me to modify the message and remove the reference to Saint-Nicolas, which I did”.
On December 3 at 6:39 p.m., three days before the snack, Alexandre Avril posted the following message on the social network X (formerly Twitter): “My daily life as mayor: we invite the children of Salbris to a snack on Friday after school, offered by the town hall for Saint-Nicolas. The XXX of the XXX school (1) is indignant and makes a report to the inspector for “attack on secularism. Everything is fine. ”
(1): We have chosen to replace the terms given by Alexandre Avril which allow the teacher to be identified with “X” in the text and a blur in the post in order to protect her.
France 3 Centre-Val de Loire then contacted the rectorate of the Orléans-Tours Academy who responded by email:
“We have become aware of this message circulating on social networks. However, no official report of an attack on secularism has been recorded to date. We have contacted the school as well as the municipality of Salbris to clarify the situation “It appears to be a misunderstanding between the two parties, and we are confident that the situation will calm down quickly.”
By telephone, Alexandre Avril confided to France 3 Centre-Val de Loire that the academic director called him and that following this call, he deleted his post. But the damage was done. The message was shared thousands of times, viewed more than a million times and sparked a flood of hateful messages towards the teacher.
By acting in this way on social networks, Alexandre Avril knew full well what he was doing, knowing the profile of his subscribers.
FSU 41, Teachers Union
“Among the comments, we find in particular one calling for rape and another for the death of our colleague“, protested the representatives of the FSU teaching union of Loir-et-Cher in a press release on December 4 at the end of the day which speaks of a “online hate campaign clearly coming from people linked to the far right.”
The union whichdenounces the actions of this mayor who thinks he is above the laws of the Republic” wishes to raise the responsibility of the elected official. “By acting in this way on social networks, Alexandre Avril knew full well what he was doing, knowing the profile of his subscribers.”
Fsu 41 recalls that this is not the first time that the mayor of Salbris “attacks National Education staff by throwing them out to pasture with the help of media close to the extreme right”. The teaching union explains that in 2022, “he took the teachers of the Salbris college to task after an educational action on citizenship and the fight against discrimination linked to sexual orientation and homophobia.
In June 2022, he had in fact written to the principal of the Gaston-Jollet college in Salbris to ask him to “rethink the organization of this awareness-raising action.
The teaching union asks the Rectorate and the Prefecture “a formal call to order and a public expression of firm and unconditional support for the personnel victims of such actions.”
“I didn’t think it would take on such proportions. The teacher was not nominally targeted. I am responsible for what I wrote. In my publication, the school is not cited. The fact that I reported concerned secularism in general and that is what led to these reactions.”specifies the mayor of Salbris. And add “I condemn all the comments that may have been made on the network. We support all our teachers and we stand by them. It is not because we have a dispute of interpretation with them that we must arrive at these situations.”
Alexandre Avril regrets that there was an outburst and that there were so many comments. “This shows that it is a very sensitive subject. On the other hand, I do not regret having organized this snack for Saint-Nicolas. I consider that the school has many other problems than the Saint-Nicolas snacks. Nicholas or Christmas trees.
Concerning the far-right subscribers who commented and shared his post, the mayor of Salbris replied that “the subject of secularism has been in the news in all political parties.” “I have the position of Alexandre Portier who is our minister for educational success. The president of the association of mayors of France reshared this tweet. “ He maintains that the case is closed.
Alerted on December 4 by the inspector of the Romorantin district who has Salbris under her responsibility, the academic director of Loir-et-Cher, Solène Berrivin noted the extent of the comments accompanying Alexandre Avril’s tweet. “I immediately asked the mayor of Salbris to delete his message to prevent the excitement from spreading as much as possible and to protect the teacher. We had to ensure his safety. ”
The academic director notified the gendarmerie to ensure security around the Salbris schools and that surveillance would be put in place.
Furthermore, the teacher benefits from functional protection. “It assures teachers that National Education is with them in the support they may need in legal matters,” explains Solène Berrivin.
In view of the “particularly virulent hateful” comments that were made on the social network, the academic management also contacted the public prosecutor’s office to report these comments within the framework of article 40 of the code of criminal procedure. “It’s much more effective than a complaint.”
