“We are implementing our own security plan because, 3 days before the start of the school year, the State is not able to say the number of military personnel & National Police officers mobilized.”
Christian Estrosi’s opening statement unsurprisingly aligns with the controversy. It’s somewhat tiresome but not astounding.
And we’ll have to get used to it. Until the 2017 presidential election, it will always be the same old record. Then, if things go as desired, everything will magically become perfect again.
In Nice, the school year will be of interest to 154 public schools and 14 private institutions.
Each year, school enrollments are constantly evolving, leading, over the past two years, to the opening of 22 classes, including 10 opened for the 2016-2017 school year.
For this 2016/2017 school year, 29,728 students will be distributed as follows:
11,465 children in preschool (including 9 children in Specialized Classes for ULIS = Localized Units for School Inclusion);
18,263 children in elementary (including 288 children in ULIS);
38 students in the specialized school for the visually impaired.
As is the tradition every year, it was up to the Mayor, Philippe Pradal, to present all the investment work carried out this summer to welcome these 29,728 students in the best possible conditions.
In his concise style and with the precision of someone accustomed to handling figures accurately, Philippe Pradal specified that 40 schools underwent work during the summer of 2016.
The work involved renovations, extension of dining units, and upgrades to school facilities amounting to €1,600,000.
In addition to this work:
€600,000 was allocated for the complete extension of the Thérèse Roméo school group, expanding onto the Ex-Police Station DABRAY building, and converting the accommodation on the preschool into classrooms and dormitories.
€1,100,000 in total cost for the extension and upgrading of the dining unit and the creation of a self-service area at Cimiez Essling Primary.
€400,000 for Saint Philippe: extension of the school group’s dining unit and installation of an elevator in this 4-level building.
A total of €3,700,000 was invested, excluding security works.
The security plan consists of 10 actions:
Action 1: Municipal police officers or private security agents present in front of each school group
Action 2: A vigilance system with agents wearing yellow vests in front of each school
Action 3: Traffic controllers (elders) always present
Action 4: Better-trained caretakers in our schools
Action 5: Creation of a video surveillance room dedicated solely to school security at the CSU (Urban Supervision Center)
Action 6: All schools equipped with video surveillance cameras by the end of September 2016
Action 7: All school stakeholders trained in security matters, including elected parents of students
Action 8: Alert buttons connected to the CSU provided to each school principal
Action 9: Anti-intrusion alarms installed in each school & a multi-year plan for installing badge-secured access
Action 10: Completion of school security work by the end of 2016 (€1.9 million in security work)
Additionally, an audit is being conducted by the Israeli company, Lotan Group, for each school. This report will assess what remains to be done to secure the establishments.
