The reasons given differ but the result is the same: the principal of the Maurice Ravel school campus in Paris, threatened with death on the Internet after an altercation with a student at the end of February to make her remove her veil, left his position, indicated Tuesday the Paris rectorate, confirming an internal message to the establishment.
According to this message sent Tuesday to parents, students, teachers and members of the board of directors, the principal “left his duties for security reasons”, which the rectorate, however, did not confirm.
A new principal since March 25
“The principal of the school campus Maurice Ravel, accompanied and supported by the rectorate services, left his post for personal reasons. A new principal took up his duties within the establishment on March 25,” indicated the rectorate.
In the message addressed to the educational community, the new principal of the school complex explains having been “missioned by the Academic Department” to ensure the “interim until next July”. He adds that he will be “helped (…) by the management team and the entire school community of the high school”, “united to deal with this exceptional situation”. The academic secretary of SNPDEN-Unsa in Paris, the main union of school heads, confirmed to AFP the information transmitted by the new principal of the school complex.
Death threats on the Internet
The principal of the Maurice Ravel high school and college, located in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, had received death threats on the Internet after an altercation with a student to get her to remove her veil. On February 28, he had “reminded three students of their obligation to remove their veil” within the premises of the establishment, according to the prosecution. “One of them, an adult and studying in BTS”, had “ignored the principal, which provoked an altercation”, according to the same source.
Death threats against the principal were then made on the Internet. The BTS student had told the Parisian having been “hit violently on the arm” by the principal. The Minister of Education Nicole Belloubet went to the Ravel high school at the beginning of March to support the principal, and deplored “unacceptable attacks”.
A 26-year-old young man, from Hauts-de-Seine, was arrested in this case. He is due to be tried on April 23 in Paris for having threatened to kill the principal on the Internet. Another man, arrested in mid-March in Trouville (Calvados) and placed in police custody as part of the investigation, was released.