France kept classrooms open ’at all costs.’ At a school where 20 pupils lost loved ones, some say the price was too high - CNN
▻https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/04/europe/france-school-deaths-covid-cmd-intl/index.html
Colleen Brown, who teaches English at Eugene Delacroix to classrooms packed with 30 children, said the restrictions were impossible to implement at the start of the school year. Windows wouldn’t open, she said, some children removed their masks, they lacked cleaning staff and there was hardly any testing for the virus.
“France may be exceptional in that they’ve kept the schools open at all costs, but they have not been exceptional in funding the schools so that they can do that safely,” Brown said.
Despite Brown’s pleas and daily fear of going into the building, she said little was done in terms of protective measures; complaints she and other teachers eventually made to school officials in January fell on deaf ears.
CNN contacted the Creteil school board, which oversees Eugene Delacroix, but has not received a response.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told CNN he acknowledged that the policies put in place were not perfect.