Toulouse: his parents are determined to fight to save the Port Garaud school
The parents of the Port Garaud nursery school are increasing their actions to maintain their school, which should close due to lack of staff. This Friday, they organize a fair.
This Tuesday morning, Cécile and Agnès come out of the Port Garaud nursery school, located between Les Carmes and Saint-Michel, in Toulouse. They came to accompany a school outing to the library. These two mothers are among the parents who are mobilizing against the announced closure of their school, due to a lack of staff. They learned the bad news “by chance”. Since then, they have gone to the front to defend this special school, “the smallest in Toulouse”, which welcomes 40 children, aged 3 to 5, divided into two classes and supervised by two teachers.
Cécile with three children, “my eldest daughter went through Port Garaud. At the moment, my second daughter is in middle school,” she explains. And if Cécile is fighting, it’s also because she hopes that her son, who is now two months old, will in turn be able to benefit from the same path as her sisters.
Moreover, on February 12, she was in the procession of demonstrators who protested in front of the Palace of Justice.
After launching an online petition, which has already collected 1,500 signatures, the parents of the Port Garaud school are organizing a fair this Friday, starting at 4 p.m. “It will be an open house for people from the neighborhood to come and see how our school works. We also convinced the mayor and his opposition”, specifies Agnès, whose son, Paul, is in the middle section in this establishment.
For these two mums, the Port Garaud nursery school is really the ideal size to make the transition between nursery and elementary school. Due to the small size of the establishment, the children feel particularly well cared for,” continues Agnès. Today, the school welcomes 40 children, “the town hall let the numbers decline by not revising the school map. We ask that it be readjusted because, one street away, the school can remain open, ”claim his parents. Due to the proximity of the Touril home, which welcomes women who have suffered violence, and their children, the Port Garaud school “is very rich because it offers real diversity. This structure is the right size to accommodate these children,” continue the two mothers.
For the time being, the future of the Port Garaud nursery school is suspended from the Departmental Council of National Education, which was to make its decision in June. In the meantime, the parents are determined “not to let go. We are even going door to door and open letters are in preparation, ”assure Agnès and Cécile. And if, despite this, the Port Garaud school came to close, the children would be spread over the Fabre and Calas schools. “Or, passing in front of the Calas establishment, we saw the banner: Your school is cracking. This did not reassure us. Also, we would like the children of these two schools to come instead to increase the numbers of Port Garaud, ”adds Mélanie Michot, delegate of the parents of pupils.