A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #362 -A libertarian communist perspective on a struggle at a middle school (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

At the Sully middle school in Rosny-sur-Seine (Yvelines)—located a few 
kilometers from Mantes-la-Jolie in a particularly challenging 
environment—violent incidents sparked a three-day protest movement. 
While this movement did not result in a clear-cut victory regarding 
resources or a fundamental overhaul of the school's operations, it did 
succeed in strengthening the teaching staff's solidarity and provided 
valuable insights into current local mobilization efforts within the 
French public education system.
Context and Trigger
Sully Middle School serves a working-class suburb in the Seine Valley, 
situated between Mantes-la-Jolie and Normandy in a peri-urban area 
marked by the decline of the automotive industry (specifically the 
Renault Flins plant and its various local subcontractors). Although its 
student demographics are similar to those of neighboring schools serving 
the Val-Fourré estate in Mantes-la-Jolie, it does not benefit from 
"Priority Education Network" (REP) status or the associated extra 
resources—such as smaller class sizes, dedicated staff collaboration 
time, and higher staffing ratios.

For several years, staff have been raising the alarm about deteriorating 
study and working conditions and requesting additional resources, using 
both institutional channels (school board meetings, requests for 
hearings with the local education authority/DSDEN—including one in 
April) and union channels (letters to the administration, alerts raised 
in official bodies, and participation in national or local strike days). 
Much like similar situations elsewhere in the region and across France, 
this state of affairs failed to elicit a response from the 
administration, which consistently cited budgetary constraints—even as 
incidents of staff sick leave, verbal and physical violence (both 
between students and directed at staff), student absenteeism, and 
declining academic performance were all on the rise. On Monday, June 8, 
2026, the school opened despite the absence of a large number of 
supervisors; several fights broke out among students, culminating during 
the afternoon recess. "Colleagues who stepped in to help were powerless 
against a group of several hundred out-of-control students. Some staff 
members trying to separate the students were hit by stray blows (2)," 
and several subsequently filed workplace injury reports.

After the school administration ordered an emergency evacuation of the 
students, the clashes continued outside the school grounds. Amidst an 
already tense atmosphere, the intervention of the municipal police 
triggered a stampede, scattering students toward the town center; there, 
a 14-year-old student from the school was mobbed and beaten by about 
thirty other students (resulting in a medical assessment of six days of 
total incapacity for work)—an incident to be added to the list of other 
students injured earlier that day...

Chronology of the dispute
These events, rapidly circulated via social media and the local press, 
naturally caused great alarm among students, families, and school staff. 
The staff agreed that resuming classes was impossible under these 
conditions. On Tuesday the 9th, a general meeting held in the morning 
resulted in a vote to strike. The DAASEN (3) and a technical advisor 
were urgently dispatched to the school, but their interventions—offering 
absolutely no solutions for either the immediate crisis or the 
underlying issues—only added fuel to the fire. Contact was made with 
elected parent representatives, who hastily organized a "dead school" 
day (4) for the following day. On Wednesday the 10th, the strike was 
voted for again, along with a decision to extend it to the next day. A 
request for a meeting with the DSDEN was submitted, and a press release 
was drafted. The local press is on hand, focusing far more on the 
sensationalist angle than on the actual struggle.

The movement culminates the following day with another highly successful 
"dead school" day, a joint barbecue for staff and parents, and a 
personal visit from the DASEN—a rare occurrence, signaling the intensity 
of the media pressure and the strength of the leverage exerted. The 
delegation meets with officials and secures an agreement for reduced 
class sizes through the end of the school year—to limit crowding—and a 
half-time supervisory position. However, the additional half-time CPE 
(educational advisor) position remains uncertain, while academic support 
for struggling students and the school’s reclassification as a REP/REP+ 
(priority education zone) are ruled out. Parent representatives are also 
granted a meeting. The general assembly then votes—though not 
unanimously—to end the protest.
The "dead school" day: a "strike" by proxy?
Above all, once the emotions surrounding Monday’s events have subsided, 
what will likely leave a lasting impression is the way the struggle 
suspended the daily routine, strengthened the collective spirit among 
staff, and fostered shared moments of both joy and anger. Ties with 
parents (and not just those serving as elected representatives) were 
strengthened—a significant development in a school where the 
relationship had historically been somewhat distant, and recently even 
contentious with certain families. This reflects, among other things, 
the defensive, insular stance of a beleaguered profession on the one 
hand, and the shift toward a utilitarian, consumerist view of 
schooling—fueled by recent reforms—on the other: career placement viewed 
as the school’s ultimate goal in a saturated training market, and the 
erosion of knowledge transmission caused by digital tools and the 
transformation of schools into mere daycare centers (a trend starkly 
visible since the Covid pandemic). We can therefore be pleased that the 
seeds of a worker-parent coalition have been sown; these bonds must be 
sustained to keep pressure on the administration, which may think twice 
before targeting us again in the future.

That said, questions arose regarding the respective roles played by 
parent-led actions (such as the "dead school" protest) and staff actions 
(strikes). Many teachers and special needs assistants (AESH) were 
reluctant to strike—citing potential loss of income—even though a strike 
fund and clear union support were available. This hesitation naturally 
led to a situation where parents took the lead in effectively "shutting 
down" the school by keeping their children at home. It is often said 
that parental actions intimidate the administration more than worker 
actions do; while this mantra holds some truth in an era of instant 
information-sharing among parents via social media—and the resulting 
bandwagon effect—it primarily serves to demotivate the staff. In 
reality, when the actions of various groups are carried out 
strategically, they reinforce one another, demonstrating unity and a 
determination to go the distance; above all, they complement each other 
to maintain constant pressure, while also helping to break down the 
utilitarian and sectoral divisions that undermine us.

A strike against striking?
Furthermore, arguments that pin the blame for the middle school’s 
dysfunctions on individuals (however real their faults may be)—rather 
than on the employer’s failings—have a demobilizing effect on the 
struggle (the attitude being: "It’s not my fault, so I’m not going to 
lose money trying to fix these problems"). That is obviously not how a 
power struggle works; the administration will always prefer to seek out 
individual scapegoats rather than repair the landscape it has sabotaged 
through understaffing, reforms, and a system that functions as a 
mechanism for social sorting.

Finally, it is common in such cases to flip the script regarding 
responsibility for the strike. Since the strike is viewed as 
legitimate—precipitated by the institution's shortcomings—strikers often 
demand that a return to work be conditional on strike days being paid. 
In this instance, however, that proposal was dismissed; the concept of 
the strike as a tool for sustained struggle has lost ground, giving way 
to the idea of ​​the strike as merely a symbolic protest—a notion 
instilled in the teaching staff over the years by woefully tepid union 
mobilizations and, above all, by the lack of any significant recent 
victories won through this method.

Politicization and the balance of power
The Ministry has thus succeeded—in tandem with major unions that are 
hemorrhaging members, activists, and legitimacy—in eroding confidence in 
our collective strength. For instance, the demand to be included in the 
REP (Priority Education Network) list of schools—a list whose revision, 
though necessary, has been frozen since 2015 (7)—runs up against the 
looming presidential election, a lack of funding, and the systematic 
dismantling of the associated resources, as the label no longer affords 
the same protection it once did. Major obstacles to large-scale 
mobilization include the immense struggle required to secure anything 
more than crumbs—given the Ministry’s refusal to yield (fearing it might 
trigger a wave of copycat protests)—as well as the inability to devise 
effective forms of action, the shift toward contractual employment and 
job insecurity within the profession, and the decline of political 
engagement among teachers (8).

Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising that the DASEN (local 
education authority director) managed to sell the meager concessions won 
by the mobilized staff—framed as "a response to the middle school's 
educational community for both the short and medium-to-long term" (9)—to 
the delegation, parents, and some of their colleagues.

Beyond the administration's skillful maneuvers to douse the fire that 
was raging just hours earlier, another limitation of current movements 
warrants examination. Deteriorating working and teaching 
conditions—characterized by overcrowded, unruly classrooms—drive 
beleaguered teachers to steer students who are disengaged from the 
academic system (read: those from working-class backgrounds) toward 
dead-end educational tracks and to demand harsh penalties for 
"troublemakers," even within the framework of the movement's own 
demands. When combined with the rhetoric of parents of high-achieving 
students—who point the finger at the same culprits—this creates fertile 
ground for a school system that further reinforces its role in social 
sorting, its collaboration with the police (or the military), and the 
stigmatization of specific groups of students.

To break these entrenched trends and the resulting defeatism, a 
broad-based movement involving staff, students, and families appears 
necessary—a movement that begins by defending the capitalist school 
system but ultimately challenges its very functioning, ensuring that the 
divisions inherent to that system are not replicated within the struggle 
itself. Local struggles, such as the one at the Sully middle school, 
offer opportunities to strengthen collective action rooted in solidarity 
with all staff (both precarious and tenured) and all students. The 
struggle against the capitalist school system is waged through the 
school of struggle. A teacher taking a stand

Notes
(1) Departmental Directorate of National Education Services
(2) Press release from the middle school staff and families, June 10, 2026
(3) Deputy Academic Director of Departmental National Education 
Services; the number two official for National Education in the 
department, deputy to the DASEN (number one), who in turn takes orders 
from the regional education authority head (*recteur d'académie*)
(4) Parents are asked not to send their child to school
(5) Senior Education Advisor (*Conseiller principal d'éducation* or 
CPE); staff member responsible for organizing and overseeing the 
"activities of staff tasked with supervision duties," "individual 
student monitoring," and "advising students on their career/educational 
path choices" (education.gouv.fr)
(6) AESH (*Accompagnants d'élèves en situation de handicap*): Support 
staff for students with disabilities. On this subject, see "National 
AESH strike: an echo from the Mantois region," *Courant Alternatif* No. 
314, and "AESH at the Maurice Thorez school in Trappes (78): Knowing how 
to keep a strike going," *Courant Alternatif* No. 358
(7) "Priority education map to remain frozen until 2027, despite 'absurd 
situations'," *Le Monde*, January 6, 2026
(8) "Where is the school system heading?", *Courant Alternatif* No. 325
(9) Press release from the middle school staff and families, June 11, 2026

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