At the end of November, the center notified them. Miguel Roldán, an interim teacher convicted of harassing a former student whom he met precisely at the center where he returned to work, the CEIP Gabriel Janer Manila, would return to teaching, making a replacement. The Student Families Association (AFA) began to organize, that same November 20.
Just after learning of the reinstatement, the Department of Education and Universities of the Government He called them to “an intense meeting where we were told that they would find a solution,” as Joan Andreu, the president of the center’s AFA, explains to elDiario.es. When they did not find a solution within the margin that had been set, the Department summoned them again, but without providing them with any news.. That is where they decide to mobilize. “Everything happened very quickly. We saw that it was not just a whir that moved through the WhatsApp groups, but it was what the families really thought,” says Andreu.
On December 13, they called a strike at the center that was followed by the vast majority of families (only 10 of the school’s 200 students attended). Since then, they have had no further news from the Ministry and the convicted professor has announced through his website that he will appeal the sentence.
Families denounce “legal loopholes” in the legislation
The process, currently, is complicated. The Ministry emphasizes that they understand the families’ concern, but that “the rules are what they are” and the sentence does not include disqualification, so “it cannot be removed from the system.” At the moment, they explain, they are studying alternatives that “adapt to the law” and have placed a reinforcement teacher in all the classes that Roldán attends, in addition to not allowing him to be a tutor.
From the Ministry they insist that they act within what legality allows them and from the AFA they comment that the problem is not legality. They know that the sentence does not include disqualification as an applicable measure, but they do not understand why nothing is done before a possible repetition: “They do not apply the concept of prevention.”
Although the sentence has not disqualified the teacher, for the lawyer specialized in educational law and child protection, Noelia Rebón, the behaviors that have been occurring “suggest that he is not suitable” to continue practicing, especially taking into account that What must always prevail is the best interests of the minor, that is, their protection and the guarantee of their rights.
“Spanish legislation [referente a la protección de la infancia] It is clear in many aspects, although there are gaps that need to be addressed,” summarizes Rebón. One of the most visible with this case is the limitation of contact with girls and boys by convicted people, which is only provided for those responsible for sexual crimes – this does not apply to Roldán, whose harassment has not been sexual. Although “this case reveals a worrying gap between the legislation and its effective application,” the lawyer emphasizes.
Prevention must be at the center
Families move between the conviction that there must be a window for action and that current legislation contains legal loopholes. It may end up being a mixture of everything, but, whatever the case, one of the keys is prevention.
The Law on comprehensive protection of children and adolescents against violence (LOPIVI) is based on three pillars, one of which is prevention, which is also the least explored. As Óscar Belmonte, from UNICEF’s rights education area, explains, there is still “an enormous room for improvement to incorporate the prevention provided for by the LOPIVI” because when that preventive margin does not exist “you can only act when the damage”. Belmonte makes a simile with the prevention of occupational risks: “If a driver skips all the traffic lights, we would act without waiting for an accident to occur, because with the protection of children it has to be the same.”
These child protection mechanisms, child safeguarding, are not developed or implemented in many centers or autonomous communities, which leads to action being taken only in the face of punishable acts. This is precisely what the AFA of Gabriel Janer Manila denounces: although they have tried to act through the educational inspection, the answer is that they can only intervene when an objective event that happens in the school can be reported.
Having tools to be able to act from prevention translates into shedding light on the things that happen in “unclear spaces,” in Belmonte’s words. That is, about those actions that do not constitute a crime in themselves, but that, in context, set off alarm bells.
The complexity of the case not only highlights the shortcomings of a legal system still focused more on judging the facts than on preventing them from happening, but also serves to debate and propose measures that will be useful in the future. Rebón believes that, for families’ confidence in the educational system to be reinforced, a periodic background review would be necessary and not only when hiring; that the Central Registry of sexual offenders be expanded to include other crimes such as harassment without sexual connotations or that strict internal protocols be established so that the centers can act in cases where there are open procedures or investigations.
The teacher and singer who faked his own disappearance
The sentence for harassment, which was made public at the beginning of November, sentenced Roldán to one year in prison and 6,000 euros in compensation to the victim, although he did not have to serve the prison sentence as he had no criminal record. As reported Mallorca newspaper, The measures were taken after a 300-meter restraining order was also issued against him, which he failed to comply with. At the end of September 2021, the former student with whom he was in contact and with whom he played paddle tennis decided to end any type of communication after feeling uncomfortable with Roldán, according to this medium. Even so, the professor continued trying to communicate with him, according to the same source.
Although the sentence that condemned him was known ten days before he joined the CEIP Gabriel Janer Manila faculty, the truth is that Miguel Roldán was already a media personality. In the cultural circuit of Mallorca he was known for his music, but it was on Christmas Eve 2022 when he hit the front pages of the media. First, because he disappeared leaving a farewell note to his family. Later, because he came out to say that he had made it up.
Roldán is given to offering explanations through entries in his Web page. It was there that he explained why he had decided to fake his disappearance and that is where he published his version of the events. In it he denounces that no information has been verified with him, even though a letter and one interview yours in the Mallorca Diary and Breaking News.
In this writing he also defends that it was not “premeditated” to return to the school where he is and explains that, although he has been considered guilty, “the sentence is based largely on things that are not true, and that it is still not final.” “It is not yet the time to go into details about it, but in this story, as in many others, neither the good guys are so good, nor the bad guys are so bad,” he adds. elDiario.es has tried without success to contact him.
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