Teacher Retires for 34 Minutes in Bureaucratic Kafkaesque Incident
“I was retired for half an hour, from 11:23 to 11:57, then I had to resume service.” The day before yesterday, Mauro Losi, from Manerba, a Mathematics teacher at the “Battisti” Technical Institute in Salò, along with two colleagues from the same school (Maria Rosaria Stefani from Vobamo and Giuseppe Avantaggiati from Roè Volciano, both business Economics teachers) and many others in the province, experienced a Kafkaesque episode, which in a certain sense exemplifies the chaos that prevails in our school system at the bureaucratic level.
Initially retired (to their great satisfaction), then reinstated to the classroom (with a touch of disappointment).
We believe that Losi, who was in pension for only 34 minutes, has set a record: others have “resisted” for two, or even three hours.
Origin of the incident and ministerial regulations
This paradoxical event stems from one of many ministerial circulars.
Until August 5th, teachers in positions of surplus—those with more teachers than available contracts—could submit an application for early retirement.
Required qualifications: at least 17 years of actual service by December 31, 1992 (24 years, 7 months, and 16 days by August 31, 2000) and an age of 54 by December 31; or 29 years, 7 months, and 16 days of service, regardless of age, with a penalized economic treatment.
This is calculated as a percentage reduction: 1% for those just one year short of 35 years in the first case, or 37 in the second, 3% for two years away, 5% three years, and so on: 7%, 9%, 11%, etc.
Many teachers seized the opportunity promptly by submitting their official applications. They patiently awaited a response, which was supposed to arrive by August 20th.
Results of the process and official communications
On Tuesday morning, after a delay, a fax finally arrived from the Provincial Office, signed by the administrative director Francesco Musolino, responsible for pensions, buyouts, and severance pay, on behalf of Antonio Zenga, the number one.
The faxes arrive in batches, but all contain the same wording: “You (Losi, Stefani, Avantaggiati, and potentially many others, ed.) are listed as surplus. Therefore, upon acceptance of your resignation request, your service will cease effective September 1, 2000.”
“Thank you for your valuable work. Please have the school send the required documentation.”
Two teachers get in their car and drive to the city. At the Provincial Office, they receive confirmation: “O.K., everything is in order. You are retired.”