Vox will continue to be the municipal representative on the school council of the CEIP San José Obrerodespite the fact that the educational community of this school located in the Macarena district of Seville has expressed its “unanimous rejection”, citing incompatibility between a party that systematically links immigration with crime in its campaigns and political speeches, and a school in which more 60% of the students come from families of immigrant origin of more than 30 different nationalities.
The association of mothers and fathers of the students of this school urged the local government a few weeks ago to reconsider the appointment of a member of the extreme right party as a representative of the City Council on its school council, defending that Vox “attacks the rights” of its student body, characterized by its multiculturalism. However, municipal sources consulted by this newspaper rule out that the requested change can be undertaken, arguing that the procedure has been carried out. as dictated by the regulations.
The procedure for assigning municipal spokespersons to school councils is carried out following an order based on the votes obtained by each political party in a given district. “A list was sent to all districts with the schools to be designated and Vox, when its turn came, chose that one,” they report from the municipal Education delegation. For this reason, the same sources explain, once the representative is assigned, it is no longer possible to make any changes, “unless” the person in question resigns, as noted.
“It’s not a coincidence”
The figure of the representative of the City Council on the school council has the function of serving as a link between the center and the local administration, communicating the needs and demands referred to by the school. The AMPA does not question “the capabilities or attitudes of the person proposed”, but does argue that “the election of a person from the municipal group Vox is not appropriate to fulfill the functions expected of a representative of the City Council in a center school with a high percentage of immigrant families and Muslim students.”
The school, which serves some 412 students and has been awarded on several occasions for its integration work, is located in an environment of “special social vulnerability”, halfway between the Polígono Norte next to the shanty settlement of El Vacie, and the Cerezo neighborhood, “one of the traditional migration hotspots in the capital of Seville,” according to Elisabet Padial, president of the AMPA of this Sevillian school. Among the migrant population, “especially the Moroccan and Muslim” stands out, since just 100 meters from the center is the Al-Hidaya Mosque in the Macarena neighborhood.
In the eyes of the families, “it is no coincidence” that Santiago Abascal’s party has chosen “the two educational centers in the area with the greatest migratory pressure in the city”, that is, the CEIP San José Obrero itself and the Official Language School , also located in Macarena. Precisely, in that same district, Vox promoted a protest – in the middle of the 2019 electoral campaign – against a center for unaccompanied migrant minors, where its leaders appealed to the duty to “protect” the “ordinary Spaniard to walk calmly.” without being assaulted by a herd of menas.”
However, from the municipal group of the ultra-conservative formation they regret the AMPA’s concerns regarding their party and attribute their reluctance to the fact that families are “absolutely uninformed about the principles and values that Vox defends”, since, they point out, they are only “in against illegal immigration” and “the rest are just shambles that hang us.”
They don’t give up
The opposition of the AMPA regarding the presence of Vox on its school board is based on the political proposals championed by the far-right party in its “crusade to increasingly cut the rights of immigrant minors,” in the words of its president. After reading “carefully the 70 pages of its political program” and debating it with the management team, the association of mothers and fathers of San José Obrero expressed its “unanimous” disagreement in the last session of the municipal district board to which belongs, and in which the list of City Council representatives on the school councils of the neighborhood schools had to be ratified.
The appointment went ahead with the only votes against from the two colleges that make up this citizen participation body. Given that the City Council has not yet notified the center of the decision, the AMPA awaits official communication – which seems imminent – to continue mobilizing to reverse a situation that Miguel Rosa, who has been director of the school for 18 years, described as “nonsense.”
“It hurts because it is a party that tries to reduce aid for migrants and that is directly in conflict with the philosophy of the school,” explains the person who directed the center from 2002 to 2020 and promoted education in cultural diversity that has been recognized with various awards such as the Educational Merit Award or the Andalusian Migration Award.
Despite the initial refusal of the City Council, the AMPA does not lose hope of being able to reach a solution among the municipal representatives themselves so that it can continue its project of educating in the values of coexistence. For this reason, on behalf of the families of the San José Obrero students, Elisabet Padial affirms that they will continue to mobilize so that the mission of the San José Obrero school is not hindered. A task that Miguel Rosa summarizes as “responding to the needs of foreign families who demanded a welcoming school for their children, in addition to a welcoming city.”
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