EDUCATION – Only two months after the tragic death of Samuel Paty, a teacher at a college in Trappes had to be “exfiltrated” from her establishment and from the Yvelines department after threats following a course on the evolution of man in which an image of a monkey and a photo of the singer were associated Soprano.
During a lesson for a 3rd grade class given in December 2020, this teacher of SVT (life and earth sciences) had decided, “to interest the students” to affix a photo of the French rapper of Comorian origin on a timeline, she pleaded with AFP.
Subsequently, the presence on this same frieze of an image of a monkey aroused the anger of a pupil’s father, according to The Parisian who revealed the case Sunday January 16.
“Situation taken very seriously by the academy”
According to the newspaper, the statement of the exercise that Stéphanie* proposed to her students was: “In the following documents, define the criteria for belonging to the human lineage (gender homo)”. However, “at no time do I liken this man to a monkey” she declared when the police heard her last June.
Two months after this course, Stéphanie was then summoned by her headteacher for an appointment with the parent, whose profile was not specified and who considered the juxtaposition of the two images to be racist and relayed the course on Facebook. questioning it.
But the father of his 3rd grade student obviously relayed only part of the course, then depriving his publication of the initial context of the exercise. As also reported The Parisian, in his message posted with the photo broadcast by the teacher, the father of the family declared in particular: “There is nothing that shocks you. My daughter, she told me, dad, it’s not normal in SVT class (…) Shitty national education. TURN PLEASE WE MUST NOT ACCEPT” (sic).
According to the rectorate of Versailles contacted by AFP, “this situation was taken very seriously by the academy”, because “any hateful or threatening message which could target academy staff is the subject of attention very vigilant of our services”.
A case deemed of the utmost importance, only two months after the assassination and beheading in the same department of Samuel Patty. The rectorate also specified that the police had been “immediately informed” of the incident and that a functional protection was given to the teacher.
“Traumatized by the assassination of Samuel Paty”
Two months before this affair, Samuel Paty, professor of history and geography at the Collège du Bois-d’Aulne, in Conflans-Saint-Honorine, had been taken to task on social networks by a student’s father following a a course on freedom of expression. He had then been assassinated by Abdullakh Anzorov, a radicalized young man who reproached him for having shown caricatures of Muhammad to his students.
For her part, the professor from Trappes, now 35, received several threats after the publication of the father of the family on social networks, which he deleted after the meeting at college.
“Traumatized by the murder of Samuel Paty”, Stéphanie then filed a complaint and received a visit from the territorial intelligence police, who asked her “to leave Ile-de-France as soon as possible”, recalls Stéphanie, now a substitute teacher in another region kept secret.
“I lost everything, everything I’ve built for ten years, this man stole my life and I was very afraid for my life,” she told AFP by phone. wishing to work from now on “closer to his family”.
Last November, the student’s father was sentenced for harassment by means of an online public communication service to six months in prison and 13,600 euros in damages by the Versailles court.
However, the student’s parent was acquitted of the charge of public insult to an official by means of communication, the prosecution told AFP, adding that an appeal was in progress. The date of the new trial is not yet known, according to the lawyer for the civil party, Stéphane Colmant.
“Exfiltrated in just a few days”
Visibly shocked by this affair, Stéphanie chose to confide in AFP and recounts the loneliness she says she has gone through, without real support from her hierarchy. “I did not see any warning signs during or after the course, and I have been using this medium to illustrate this teaching for several years now at the request of a former student who wanted to see more illustrations of people from of diversity”, continues the teacher, who regrets having received only the support of her union, the Snalc, and “nothing” from the rectorate.
Today, “I no longer have confidence in the institution, I dread addressing other sensitive subjects such as puberty and reproduction. When are we going to start blocking these parents of students who threaten?”, wonders the teacher who adds that she was forced to leave everything in a hurry: “I had to be exfiltrated in just a few days” .
For its part, the academy of Versailles explains that the teacher was “placed on leave for temporary disability attributable to the service (Citis) from February 3 to September 10”.
In addition, “her transfer request may have given rise, initially, to a temporary assignment to another academy since the start of the school year”, continued the academy, ensuring that it was doing “everything so that she can get the assignment she wants next school year”.
A meeting between the rectorate and the teacher’s representatives is also scheduled for this week.
*The teacher’s first name has been changed.
See also on The HuffPost: Tribute to Samuel Paty, a march in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine to honor his memory