Head teacher, a priest, arrested on sexual abuse charges

CÁDIZ The head teacher, a priest, at a school in Cádiz was arrested yesterday for alleged sexual abuse against over a dozen minors between the ages of 12 and 14. According the National Police, the investigation began with a denuncia (complaint) from the parents of a boy, a student at the school, at the police station on July 11. Soon after, several more complaints were made, after which the Family Unit of the police began questioning teachers and staff at the school, which resulted in F.J.L.L., 40, being arrested on Tuesday afternoon. The alleged perpetrator is now 'at the disposal of the courts', accused of crimes against 'moral integrity' and 'sexual indemnity'. Sources close to the order to which he belonged (Salesianos, no English equivalent we can find), say he was fired from his job as soon as it heard about his arrest. Police sources say that there could be several more victims, all of whom were students at the school, and some of whom have reported they were subject to severe corporal punishment as well as sexual molestation.

Schools in Andalucía start summer holidays

ANDALUCÍA As the time approaches, we are getting more and more questions about when schools start their summer holidays - that, of course, is why we published (and took a great deal of trouble with) our School Calendar, which has been on the sidebar since the beginning of this school year. If you click on the image here, you can see for yourself. However, it is unlikely that we will be repeating the experience of creating another calendar for the 2013/2014 school year, as the (considerable) effort went entirely unappreciated (and un-donated) by all -except one - of the people who used it.

School holidays coming up next week - WHAT?

ANDALUCÍA When we first published our School Calendar for this school year, we ran 'Wot, no days off?' across it for April. The nearest holiday to that was May 1 (a.k.a. Labour Day when nobody labours). But we hadn't heard from local authorities about their 'special' arrangements with the school unions and teachers. Now we hear that there is one of those blessed puentes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Good luck to parents who have to make their own arrangements about their children... In any case, check with your local school!

School holidays coming up

ANDALUCÍA According to our School Calendar (on the sidebar) schools all over Andalucía are closed for a week over Easter, starting this weekend. So the last day is this coming Friday, and they come back on Monday April 1 - April Fool, indeed! The weather, though, does not look too fantastic for that week, so maybe a little forward planning is in order, especially for the smaller ones.

Jimena kids in Rome for Pope's proclamation

JIMENA Students of 1º Bachillerato at Instituto Hozgarganta senior school were on a trip to Italy. And in Rome for the biggest of the news yesterday, Pope Francis's election and proclamation. They were picked up by the Europa Press agency's correspondent Laura Ramírez as they were leaving the square. The photo is from former Jimena Mayor Pascual Collado's son, who is among the 47 students in Rome. 

New truancy regulations came into effect on February 21

"... and then, what?"

Fines range from €60 to €3,000

CÁDIZ (Province) New regulations on truancy came into force in the province when it was published in the province's official bulletin (BOP) a week ago (when CampoPulse was still 'removed' by Godgle). The salient part of it makes parents liable to fines for allowing their children to be absent from school. These can range from €60 to €750 for leve (light) infringements, from €650 to €1,500 for grave (serious) ones, and from €1,501 to €3,000 for muy graves (very serious). Among the leves is not registering the child for school, not trying to get him/her to school or not acting on suggestions or requirements of social services. The other, more serious fines are based on recurrence. Nevertheless, and although the new rules don't regulate it as such, the text does mention that before any official files (expedientes) are opened, a series of actions should take place, including social work and community involvement aimed at a solution to the problem.

School meal service restored

(Photo: europasur.es)

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The 29 schools that had started the new term without their usual meal service are back to normal, though under new catering management. The problems, which seriously impacted families everywhere, arose when staff at the previous caterers, Brâssica went on strike because they hadn't been paid for three months. Two new catering services have now been contracted: Aramak for schools in Algeciras and El Cántaro for the rest of the area. The latter told us that they will be bringing in their menu daily (Brâssica did so weekly), and judging from other information received, the service looks to be good and nutritious (something else is if your kid won't eat carrots and veggies, of course).

Teacher run over by parent at school gates

IES Mar de Poniente, La Línea

LA LÍNEA A teacher at the Mar de Poniente High School was run over by the father of a student. He was run over at the gates of the school (image) but fortunately not badly hurt. The incident occurred after the father was informed that his daughter had left school without permission. School authorities are carrying out an investigation, which may also be handled by the police. The Council advises 'prudence' and calls the incident as 'deplorable'.

Andalucía high schools start term with 4,502 fewer teachers

I.E.S. Bahía de Algeciras

Primary school kids will not be getting computers

SEVILLA The Councillor for Education of the Junta de Andalucía, Mar Moreno, announced at a press conference recently that her department had managed to maintain the ratio of teacher to children without increasing it (the number of kids per class) as the central government has allowed it to do though recommending otherwise. She was proud to say that she has also been able to maintain the scholarship schemes untouched and help for families. At the same press conference, Moreno admitted that teachers will have to "make a greater effort", earn less and work more. The 'loss' of 4,502 secondary school teachers is owed to the expansionof working hours, something Madrid was not allowing Andalucía to dispute. On another matter, the Councillor confirmed that fifth grade primary students will not be receiving computers, as their predecessors have, because the central government was "not collaborating" with their financing. However, this decision creates a saving of between €20m and €30million. It also obliges the Junta to design an alternative that is not yet established but that allows for those existing 'digital' classrooms to be used effectively.

Over 30,000 children started school in the Campo yesterday

©JimenaPulse 2012

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR  On the whole the first day at school for over 30,000 children went without incident. However, there were incidents at several school, where parents protested about various items. In Algeciras, parents at the new infants/primary school, Miguel Hernández (which last year was an Instituto) found that there were only two teachers, one each for the two Primary classrooms. No support teacher and no concierge, said the parents, who added that they would not be bringinging their kids to school today in protest. (SOON YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO READ ITEMS SUCH AS THIS WITHOUT SUBSCRIBING. Subscription info coming soon to this site near you.)>>>

First day at school: let's paint the crossings (!)

JIMENA It's not as though there hasn't been any time to do it in almost three months of an empty school. No, first thing in the morning, at about 8, there were the crews painting the zebra crossings right by the school. It's chaos enough on a good day, but to have cars swerving the bollards, with a single overwhelmed 'vigilante' trying to make sense of it - not good. The comment that is the headline came from one indignant parent taking his child to school. Forward thinking is distinctly lacking among the maintenance crews in this town. (About a fortnight ago we read an item in Europa Sur about a lift being installed at N.S. de los Ángeles school in Jimena village - no sign of it... we didn't report it 'cos we knew it was too good to be true.)

School calendar for 2012 / 2013

ANDALUCÍA As we promised, here is next school year's calendar. Well, not here, here, except as an illustration, but in a printable version HERE. You can print it, cut it out, drag it through the mud, whatever - aren't we good? PLEASE BE AWARE THAT NEXT YEAR'S SCHOOL CALENDAR (2013/2014) WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE BY SUBSCRIPTION. Subscription information will be available soon.

School holidays: having your cake and eating it

ANDALUCÍA On Monday we will be offering the complete school holiday schedule for the 2012-13 year that starts on Monday September 10 for Primary, and Monday 17 for Secondary. As we are preparing that right now, we are seeing at least two cases where long weekends (the infamous puentes, or 'bridges') have been carefully crafted to favour the teachers, not the students or their parents - hence the headline. Long-time readers will know that one of the many bees in Prospero's bonnet (wossat buzzing??) has to do with the disastrous education offered in Andalucía, so he's at it again (Watch this space!) However, a report on the BBC's Today programme had a piece the other day that said that children who receive support at home (more on this at another time) are more likely to succeed. What it didn't say was what happens to kids who get support at home but none at school. 'Hmm,' says Prosp.

VAT (IVA) up on September 1, school supplies included

Advice: shop now, before the date

SPAIN Back to school this year is going to be a lot more expensiveÑ families will be spending between €140 and €340 just on school supplies. Add clothes, shoes, uniforms, etc and the total can be over €700. The numbers are almost double those of last year. But now is the time to buy all those school materials (e.g. notebooks, pens, pencils, plasicine, ruler, rubbers, etc. etc.) because IVA on them goes up from the 'super-reduced' rate of 4% to the full 21%. This does not affect text books, which are still at 4%. Many schools have an exchange system in operation, as do some parents organizations. ITEMS SUCH AS THIS WILL SOON BE SUBJECT TO SUBSCRIPTION. Subscription information will be available soon.

Monday is a school holiday, too

Just in case your child neglected to inform you (which we doubt in the extreme), Monday and Tuesday are both school holidays. That Tuesday is May 1st and a national (bank) holiday, is no news (we wonder: Why is Labour Day, as it is in some countries, a day when very few people actually labour?), and that Monday, the day between (a puente, or 'bridge', in Spain) a weekend and a holiday is chosen by teachers' unions with too much power in Andalucía, is not exactly a surprise. Isn't it time that there were mass protests about the enormous amount of time off teachers get, when Andalucía schools remain at the very bottom of European education lists? PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ITEMS SUCH AS THIS MAY BE SUBJECT TO SUBSCRIPTION IN THE FUTURE but you can make a donation NOW, too! Please click here for more information on how to help us continue.

'We won't be having Father's or Mother's Day at school'

JIMENA/San Martín del Tesorillo (Source: TioJimeno) This note was handed to parents by their children at the school in Tesorillo. It reads as follows: "We wish to inform you that under the new instruction regulations, and because the concept of family is changing, we will not be celebrating Father's or Mother's Day, as we will be carrying out activities related to The Family Day, on May 15. Signed by the pre-school and 1st and 2nd grade teachers. " The father who sent it in to TioJimeno was unable to explain things to his child.

School 'cleaned out' by bailiffs

(Photo: cuatro.com)

Teachers and children cried as materials were loaded onto trucks

MADRID (Agencies) Santa Illa, a private school in the Chamartín neighbourhood of Madrid had almost a million euros worth of debt with Social Security. Under a court order, the bailiffs moved in yesterday morning and, as teachers and children looked on, removed chairs, whiteboards and even shelves, from which they 'threw books and papers on the floor', according to one witness. The police also looked on as several teachers and children cried, said the father of a student. The Ministry for Social Security said the school had had 'plenty of warning'. In fact, it has emerged that the schools head teacher, Iñaki Santa, received the court order that allowed the bailiffs to remove materials during school hours. What is yet to be determined is whether the traumatic experience was worth the amount of 'money' collected.

School's out until Thursday!

In the teachers' union's inimitable fashion, they have managed once more to get away with a very long puente (bridge: long weekend). Because Tuesday happens to be Día de Andalucía, and Monday, by sheer coincidence no doubt, is officially Education Community Day (Día de la Comunidad Educativa), they are also taking Leap Day, Wednesday February 29, off as well. Five consecutive days off without a thought for anyone else but themselves. No thought for parents, that's certain: if Mom or Dad or both are lucky enough to be working, how can they take time off to take care of the kids in the present unemployment climate? If they're not working, a day or three with either or both parents would probably do the children quite a lot of good ... but that can be a big if. (Tell us what you think: click on 'comments' below)

Big, big bridge ahead next week

(c) Alberto Bullrich 2011

This is the big one. This is a holiday after a holiday in the middle of the holidays. This is when Tuesday is a bank holiday and so is Thursday. This is because some bureaucrat didn't take the trouble to look at the calendar (or was bribed to look elsewhere). This El Puente de la Constitución (Tuesday, 6), or El Puente de la Inmaculada Concepción (Thursday 8). In both cases using the word puente, meaning bridge - clever, that. Now, we have no trouble with any immaculate conceptions except believing in them. But a holiday? Should at least be a miracle shouldn't it? Anyway, chances are that the whole week is shot: Weekend, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Weekend. (Red means its a holiday or a weekend, black is a working day.) So we will try to find out about such mundane details as shop and official offices opening schedules, rubbish collection, and, of course, school schedules. In the Spanish vernacular, this is un puente muy largo. Depending on whether they are a parent or a teacher, they will have a smile or a frown - guess which is which.

PP says school problems are an example of Junta cutbacks

JIMENA (Source: EuropaSur) The Partido Popular (PP) parliamentary representative for Cádiz, Carmen Pedemonte, stated yesterday that the problems at the Reina de los Ángeles primary school in Jimena is an example of the policy of cutbacks by the provincial Education Council. She met with parents involved in the effort to split a class of 28 first grade children, telling that it was not too much to ask as "previously (in other years) there has been that possibility for 6 year olds. Last year, she reminded them, there were two classes of 6 year olds and two regular teachers and one support teacher for both. This year one of the regulars and the support teachers have not been placed at the school. Worse, she added, is that the decision had been made at the Education Council in June, well before the September closure of the registry (matriculación), giving an incorrect total of students in each class. In her communiqué, Pedemonte said that the original classroom were too small to hold 28 students adequately and the library had to be relocated in order to make room for that many children. Pedemonte also promised to take the matter to the provincial parliament and try to find a solution.