Since Monday, the Parisian school campus Maurice-Ravel has had a new principal, who will act as interim principal until next July. A recruit who arrived after the hasty departure of the former head of the establishment, who resigned at the end of last week “for security reasons” after being the target of a wave of cyberharassment.
What happened ?
Having remained in his post for seven years, the principal of the Maurice-Ravel high school and college, located in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, packed his boxes a few days ago. A decision taken after being the target of death threats on the Internet for several weeks. It all started with an altercation with a young girl about her veil: on February 28, almost 20 years after the law on secularism in schools, the head of the establishment reminded three students of this instruction who found in the corridors of the establishment.
“One of them, an adult and studying in BTS”, had “ignored the principal, which provoked an altercation”, detailed the prosecution. What followed was a wave of cyberharassment from management staff, with some virulent messages supporting the student, who had claimed that the principal had “hit her violently on the arm”. The young woman had filed a complaint, which was ultimately dismissed, we learned this Wednesday.
Why did he resign?
In an email intended for teachers, and published by Humanity, the principal indicated that he had left his position “for security reasons” for himself and for the school. The rectorate, for its part, mentioned “personal convenience” and an “early departure” in retirement “in view of the events which have marked these last weeks”.
While some observers point out the loneliness of school heads in managing this type of incident, the Ministry of Education assures that it has “united behind it and the educational community” and put in place protection. “Several national police crews were mobilized around the establishment, with reinforced monitoring by the police to protect the principal,” he says. The rectorate also “made a report to the public prosecutor” in particular regarding online threats. Two individuals identified as the originator of these writings, although unrelated to the establishment, were also arrested.
What are the reactions?
After the visit of the Minister of National Education Nicole Belloubet at the beginning of March, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced that he will receive the principal of the Maurice-Ravel school campus on Wednesday afternoon in Matignon. It must be said that his case is causing a lot of talk in teachers’ rooms and in the political sphere. If the heads of establishments interviewed by 20 minutes have remained generally silent since this morning, raising a sensitive subject, political leaders from all sides have commented on this affair.
“This is what the wave leads to, this is where small cowardices and big renunciations lead us,” reacted the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau on the social network X. “We cannot accept it,” declared on France 2 the leader of the socialist deputies Boris Vallaud, believing that “it is a collective failure”. “It is above all a defeat of the State” in the face of “the Islamist gangrene which is thriving”, added the head of the Reconquest list in the European elections, Marion Maréchal, on Sud Radio.
Has the context become tougher for school leaders?
Since the 2004 law, the subject of secularism in schools has regularly been talked about. According to a note from state services, attacks on secularism, much more numerous since the assassination of Samuel Paty, had increased by 120% between the 2022-2023 and 2021-2022 school year. Before the ban on the abaya at the start of the 2023 school year, the wearing of signs and outfits, which represents the majority of attacks, had increased by more than 150% throughout the last school year.
Three weeks ago, more than 150 Parisian school heads demonstrated in solidarity with the headmaster of Ravel, citing the threats, on this subject among others, of which they could be victims on a daily basis. The Prime Minister very recently promised the establishment of “pedagogical support units” for teachers who wish them.