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The town, which seems unable to count on civil protection personnel this year, has decided to cancel the procession of promotions. The parents’ association is angry.
The children’s procession, the highlight of the promotions festival, will not take place in Meyrin this year (illustration image).
VQH
“Give us back our 2022 promotions!” The cry from the heart comes from the parents’ association (APE) of Meyrin, disappointed that the town has canceled the traditional children’s procession and the end-of-school-year party which brought them all together, as well as their parents, on the Charnaux countryside square. The APE has launched a petition on social networks to invite the municipality to reconsider its position. Friday at 6 p.m., it had already been signed 462 times.
Meyrin certainly plans a decentralized party in the different schools, where the children will have rides (without welcoming families), but the solution does not convince. A parent of a student thus deplores “discount promotions. They have been canceled for three years: in 2019 because of the heat wave, in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid, which I understand. But not there! There are 4P children who will never have had one. It’s really unfortunate.”
“The problem is the procession”
President of the APE, Corinne Moreno is also upset. “It is not satisfactory. The absence of food stalls in the Charnaux countryside, well, we could have managed, we would have brought the picnics. But the problem is the procession. The people of Meyri want it. This is the important moment, the children have the joy of tinkering with their school outfits, they parade proudly…”
A security issue
Renouncing the traditional formula of the party was a decision “taken reluctantly by the Administrative Council”, indicates Adrien Fohrer, spokesperson for Meyrin. He explains that the municipality, which has 2,500 students, or 500 more than in 2018, was forced to do so because of the occasional impossibility of requesting civil protection personnel (PC). “A motorcade involves an important security infrastructure. We have to stop trams, block roads. Until then, we had the support of the PC. But this year, the canton made it clear to us that they could not make these resources available.”
The sketch of a solution?
Indeed, due to past and future over-solicitation of the CP due to Covid and then to the influx of Ukrainian refugees, the canton has made it known that except in an emergency, using its services would be impossible until September 12. “But two municipalities questioned us about this, including Meyrin, who wrote to us on March 15, explains Laurent Paoliello, spokesman for the Security Department. We haven’t answered yet, so haven’t said no yet. One of the variants could be to authorize them to organize repeat courses for CP, the purpose of which would be to regulate promotions. But if they have already decided…”
A new formula
Adrien Fohrer, he “regrets that Meyrin did not receive an official response earlier. An event of this magnitude requires planning. The organization is not done in a month. Unfortunately, we can’t wait.” He also specifies that given the increase in the number of students, the municipality “will work with all the stakeholders, including the APE, on a new promotion formula for 2023 and the following years”.