Aloisio Schools Face Parent Protests Over Unmet After-School and Administrative Issues
The first school year of the autonomy era has begun, and in the town of Aloisio there are two comprehensive institutes: one for the historic center and Grole, and another for San Pietro and Gozzolina. As often happens when major changes occur, the first issues are surfacing.
A group of parents whose children attend the Comprehensive Institute number 1 has signed a protest note regarding some malfunctions. These malfunctions occurred during the first weeks of school. The note reads: “On October 11th, we received a circular signed by the school principal announcing the start of after-school care for our children, with specific dates and times: ‘With this letter, I am informing you that the after-school program will begin next week (October 16th – 21st) and will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2 PM to 4 PM.’ We arranged ourselves accordingly, but in reality, upon arriving at the school, the after-school program does not exist, and our children left unattended in front of the school; others go home on their own or are accompagnied by disappointed and outraged parents.”
Therefore, families experienced dissatisfaction with a service that the school had officially announced but which was subsequently not provided without prior warning, causing organizational problems for parents caught off guard.
Mishaps and controversies
In addition to the after-school program issue, there is mention of another decision that caused unrest among parents: “We want to highlight – continues the note – the sending to all families of a notice with attached forms to request reimbursement for school expenses, the so-called ‘good school’ initiative decided by the Lombardy Region. Interestingly, this concerns private schools, not public institutions. This naturally caused doubts, requests for documentation, uncertainties, loss of time, and a lot of confusion.”
There was also a controversy, which began at the start of the school year and was later resolved, regarding the purchase of the English textbook, a required subject, paid for by parents: after protests, the school decided to cover this expense.
“Perhaps the management – concludes the statement signed by the parents’ group – does not consider that everyone has family and work commitments.” The Principal, Lena Baronio, who is currently managing an undeniably colossal workload to run an institution with nearly one thousand students, responds: “Problems related to the cafeteria and student transportation were encountered, which temporarily prevented us from starting on October 16th. However, starting next Monday, the after-school program will operate normally.”
