“It is well understood that the Mayor and the majority live in a place other than Reggio, but there must be a limit to their total detachment from reality, especially when the rights of the children and young people who attend Reggio schools and the serenity of thousands of families in our City are put at risk”. This is how a note signed by city councilor Mario Cardia begins regarding the state in which, in his opinion, Reggio school buildings are. “The latest, current, disaster – continues Cardia – unfortunately concerns the primary and middle schools of the City and with them the daily life and the right to study and education of the little ones and of the mothers and fathers, of the teachers who take care of them every day. The alarm was raised with great attention in recent days by UIL Scuola and the documents that came out of the Cedir offices today confirm its truthfulness and absolute gravity: following the seismic vulnerability checks, nine schools in the city will close: Galluppi, Vitrioli, Pythagoras, Dante Alighieri Catona, Dante Alighieri Catona detachment, Klearcos Archi, Melissari Tremulini, Frangipane North building, Condera primary school. This is the disaster of the administration that tragically emerged from a note from the municipal Director of Education, addressed to all the Headmasters of the schools of Reggio”.
In addition to the closure of these school buildings – the note reads – what is truly shocking due to the absolute lack of planning is that the Headmasters of the other schools in Reggio are being asked to indicate available premises where to accommodate the children and young people attending the schools that will have to be closed, as if they were objects to be placed, rather than children and young people who have the right to study and grow up peacefully”.
The councilor therefore asks himself “Why has the administration not spent the funds for school buildings? And where will the students of the closed schools be redistributed? In the canteens, in the assembly halls of other schools? Seismic vulnerability checks in schools are welcome, as they represent a tool to protect the safety of students. But what leaves one speechless in the face of this umpteenth outrage by the administration is the total lack of political and administrative vision and planning of the majority, which, while waiting for the results of the core sampling, has not implemented any political and administrative action to prevent the closure of the schools and adopt alternative solutions in time. Closing nine schools 20 days after the start of teaching activity literally means throwing hundreds of families into chaos and compromising the right to education of the youngest. And it is something unacceptable, on which as an opposition Councilor I will not make any concessions, in the interest of the rights of children and families of Reggio. The mayor must immediately report on this disaster in an open City Council, in which all families from Reggio must be able to participate”.