Cabo Frio City Hall investigates complaints against the Alfredo Castro Municipal SchoolDisclosure
Published 04/29/2024 20:51
Rio – The Municipal Department of Education of Cabo Frio opened an internal administrative process to investigate a series of complaints involving suspension of classes and lack of teachers at Escola Municipal Alfredo Castro, in the municipality of the Lagos Region. A group of guardians of the school’s 6th year students gathered evidence (see the image below) that shows how often the unit releases students early, for various reasons, or cancels classes. According to the City of Cabo Frio, if irregularities are proven, administrative measures will be taken, however, the agency did not provide a deadline for this internal investigation.
In a complaint sent to the DAY, Cassiane Brito, mother of one of the 6th year students at Escola Municipal Alfredo Castro, says that since the beginning of this year she has been surprised by the constant way in which her daughter has left early or has not had classes. The person responsible then began to print the school’s notices and notified the city’s Department of Education, asking about the school hours from 1pm to 6pm. However, no measures were taken and the justifications for missing classes changed, according to her.
“With each email I sent, something changed at the school to better hide what they were doing. For example, instead of letting students out early, they started giving them free time in the middle of the shift, thus making it seem like they were taking all classes”, explains the person in charge. Outraged by the neglect, Cassiane created a group with 6th grade parents and discovered that other guardians were also complaining about the situation.
In the group, some parents wrote: “My daughter is new at school, and I don’t understand why there are so many days without classes, without any explanation. It’s difficult”; “I ended up taking the step of transferring my daughter to another school”; “My daughter claimed that they are putting air conditioning in the classrooms. Is that the reason for missing classes? And when that’s not the case, she leaves early. How do people who work do it?”, asked a mother.
O DAY had access to the group’s message exchange with the school management and parents. In February, students were released at least two hours ahead of schedule four times, one of which was justified by the absence of two teachers who presented a medical certificate. In March, students were released at 3:15 pm, three hours before the end of the school day, for six days, two of which were due to a lack of teacher.
In April, students were out of class for at least three days because of the school’s painting. The justification, however, did not convince the parents. They claim that the school could have renovated the unit during the January holidays or during the long weekend in March. On the 8th, 9th and 24th of April, students were also left without classes or were released early, as per notification from the management itself. “This is absurd, it’s very disrespectful. My son leaves early every day.”
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The group decided to contact the Department of Education by email, which returned to some parents with the following message on April 9: “The Human Resources sector informed that it is in the process of hiring teachers to fill the shortage. The release of students before the regular schedule is due to medical certificates from teachers”, said the ministry in a note.
Cassiane says she had to turn down a job opportunity because of the situation, as she has no help picking up her daughter from school at different times. “What we are going through is an abuse. Teachers simply use certificates, or the school creates situations such as lack of water, painting, anything you can imagine to avoid classes or leave early”, says the mother.
Other complaints against the school
Less than a month ago, councilor Davi Souza visited the school and reported the lack of fire extinguishers, which puts the safety of students at risk. Furthermore, he also found infrastructure problems in the building.
At the time, in a note, the city of Cabo Frio said that the unit has been undergoing repairs. “87 school units receive daily attention from the Department of Education, which responds to requests from management teams. At Escola Municipal Alfredo Castro, air conditioning units have already been installed and the unit underwent painting during the last holiday. This Monday (1st), the site was cleaned. In addition, a process will be opened to apply resin to the school floor, and this issue will also be resolved soon”, he said.
