Teachers from institutes that will have a "mosso": "We don't understand why he has to come if we are not a problematic center"

BarcelonaThe pilot plan to place an undercover police officer in thirteen educational centers in Catalonia continues to generate controversy. While awaiting an official presentation of the plan, teachers –both those who will experience this trial in their center and those who will not– are receiving information piecemeal, despite the measure set to be implemented this very Monday.

This is the case for teachers from various centers chosen to implement the trial, with whom ARA has been able to speak. They explain they are "stupefied" by the news and that, many of them, have so far only received the information informally this week. They hope that in the coming days they will be explained "very clearly what it consists of and what implications it may have".

Be that as it may, some criticize the decision and assure that it has generated "a lot of unease" because "it seems to single out" the chosen schools and institutes. "We don't understand why a police officer has to come if we are not a problematic center," complain teachers from one of the centers.

The measure is also rejected by two secondary schools in L'Hospitalet that this week learned they will start implementing the plan from Monday. "We have been informed very poorly, we have very little information," explains one of the teachers to this newspaper. He details that at his center "they found out" this Thursday through an email that "only said that the plan starts this Monday" and which assures that the Mossos d'Esquadra officer will also join the teaching staff bodies, such as the school assemblies or the coexistence commission. "It is a figure that will start working on Monday and we are not being consulted nor have we been given the option to give our opinion in a school assembly," criticizes the teacher, who assures that "it could be the gateway to a punitive approach to coexistence in the centers".

In contrast, at another of the institutes chosen to send an undercover police officer, teachers do describe that it will be "a figure dedicated solely to mediation". In this center, a significant portion of the teachers do not look favorably on the initiative and label it as "usurpation", but some also consider that teachers sometimes, when mediating certain conflicts, "lack authority".

Cutback of social integrators

Beyond not feeling comfortable with the fact that a Mossos d'Esquadra agent can enter the daily life of the school or institute, various teachers warn that the plan could lead to the targeting or stigmatization of centers and their students. "Our students are mostly working-class and of migrant origin and are already quite stigmatized. We are not saying there are no conflicts, but we address them from a pedagogical and community perspective. We have tools that do not involve calling the Mossos," insists one of the teachers from Hospitalet de Llobregat.

In fact, the workers' assembly of two of the municipality's centers included in the pilot plan have issued a public statement of rejection. "Educational centers already have qualified professionals to support students and manage complex situations: security guards, TIS, social educators, and counselors. It is these figures who have the necessary tools and training to intervene from a place of connection, prevention, and emotional support," they defend in the document. Furthermore, they criticize that at the beginning of the school year, the Department of Education reduced the staffing of these professionals, citing budgetary limitations. An action that Equitat.org [formerly Fundació Bofill] also denounced, estimating a drop from 415 integrators and educators to 300.

On the other hand, there have been the first educational centers that have openly shown opposition to the plan even without being part of the pilot test. One is the Eduard Fontsere institute in l'Hospitalet de Llobregat. The professionals' assembly at this high-complexity center in La Florida has stated that it is "unacceptable that there is a budget to bring law enforcement into schools and institutes, and not for maintaining social support teams." Furthermore, they believe that the measure, especially considering the type of student in the centers where it has been implemented, "intends to reinforce a punitive culture and apply more social control, particularly to the population of migrant origin."

The fact that specific information about the plan to deploy an undercover police officer in thirteen educational centers has not been made public has also caused some disarray in communication. The municipality of El Prat, where the plan will extend to two centers, is an example: municipal sources assure that the aim is to improve coordination between educational services and the Catalan police, because the plan "does not involve" the presence of police in any high school. On the other hand, this Thursday, sources from both the Department of Education and the Interior have assured el ARA that the plan does foresee this presence of unarmed undercover agents in the chosen centers.