The Jean-Macé nursery school in Fécamp was closed on Thursday 14th May 2020, after the suspicion of a case of Covid-19 at its principal Elementary school
Last minute: The result of the Covid-19 test of the director of the nursery school is negative, announced the academy of Rouen Friday, May 15, 2020. The school should therefore be able to resume at Jean-Macé.
A suspicion of Covid-19 cases in the director of the nursery school Jean-Macé disrupted the “return” , Thursday, May 14, 2020, in Fécamp ( Seine-Maritime ). The establishment was closed, but not the elementary school located on the floor above, in the same building. The Ministry of Education has closed the site concerned by the suspicion, without considering contact cases, which are analyzed by the health protocol initiated following this type of decision by the regional health agency.
Territorial and national education personnel used their right of withdrawal on Thursday. As a result, the elementary school will also be closed on Friday 15th May.
“We are afraid for the health of children and for us”
The decision to maintain the opening of the elementary school despite the suspicion of a case caused concern among staff. Contacts are frequent within the building between the teams of the two establishments. In addition, the nursery school was responsible during the confinement of the reception of the children of the priority personnel and looked after children of the elementary school within this framework. Local staff are the first to have exercised their right of withdrawal in the morning. The situation then became untenable, according to the director of the elementary school Pierre Morin:
“I was annoyed. I no longer had municipal staff to disinfect the premises. The protocol was not followed. Especially since contacts are frequent between the teams of the two establishments, who often meet.”
Stephane Legardinier, Fecampois of the CGT Educ and mandated to the departmental CHSCT, sent a right of alert signalling a serious and imminent danger to the direction of the departmental services of national education of Seine-Maritime (DSDEN). He had not received a response by the afternoon. “Normally there should have been an emergency investigation,” he said. Adults and children were present. Some children must have eaten there for lunch… ”
If the suspicion turns out to be a proven case, he is worried about the children, the staff, but also the families of the children taken in during confinement. He also denounces the lack of equipment to deal with the situation. If the territorial personnel received equipment, those of the National education still wait.
“When we say that everything is ready in schools, those who are on the ground know that this is false,” denounces Stéphane Legardinier. In this school, there is no gel, no wipes, no disinfectant, few masks, no training in the wearing of masks, nor in barrier gestures. More material should arrive, according to the feedback that the director has from National Education. “Finally I hope,” he postives. We are still afraid for the health of children and for us. “ The academy says that all the equipment has arrived: the masks, as well as hydroalcoholic gel” present in each classroom “.
“We apply the precautionary principle”
The results of the test passed by the director of the nursery school should be known in the evening. By then, the City has decided to close the two schools at least until Monday. “We hope there is nothing, but in this case, as everywhere, we apply the precautionary principle,” said Mayor Marie-Agnès Poussier-Winsback.
Warned the day before by the National Education of the need to close the nursery school, she said she did not know that contacts existed between the teams of different establishments. The mayor recalls the “big responsibility” which weighs on the city councillors in this delicate period.
“I don’t want to take any chances. We are trying to reopen the schools because we see that there is a demand, but we want to do so with the best reception conditions for children and people. If there is too much suspicion, at some point we cannot.”
Children will have to wait longer before resuming lessons at Jean-Macé. “It’s a shame, regrets the director. Many of the students were happy to return and find their teachers. In the meantime, he too will have a lot to do in terms of organization to manage the recovery and get through this crisis. Particularly at the start of the new school year, where a closing of the CP class, regretted by the parents of pupils, risks making the management of enrollment and contacts even a little more complicated.
