He just wanted to wish the children a Merry Christmas by reciting two prayers with them. And creating all together a small rosary made of beads. However, the teacher's gesture was not appreciated: for her a suspension from the workplace for twenty days with also a reduction in salary. Marisa Francescangeli, a primary school teacher in San Vero Milis , when she tells her story, weeps bitterly: «I'm living a nightmare. I would have expected everything but not a similar measure. I miss my kids, I miss my job. I haven't done anything wrong."
History. Marisa Francescangeli, born in 1965, will only be able to roll the roll starting from 16 April. First he will not be able to cross the threshold of the school in via Umberto, his second home. «It all starts on December 22, when I was in a class to replace one of my colleagues. Since Christmas was just around the corner, I decided to make a bracelet with the children that represented the rosary. Shortly before going out we recited the Our Father and the Ave Maria together. In short, normal for me, it didn't seem like I had done anything serious. In all my classes there isn't a child who doesn't attend religion class». However, there are those who did not like the gesture. Two mothers complained about the incident to the head teacher Alessandro Cortese: «At that point - says the teacher - I was summoned to participate in a meeting with these parents and the headmaster. I even apologized for the gesture, remembering however that at the beginning of the year I had asked all the parents for permission to be able to recite some prayers with the children. No one was against it."
The suspension. The story does not end with an apology. On 2 March Marisa Francescangeli was summoned to the directorate to sign the notification of suspension by the director Alessandro Cortese and the provincial school office. For her, a cold shower, the beginning of an ordeal: «I only had the courage to read the contents of the letter once I got home - she says - It said that I had been suspended for twenty days and that the measure started from day I should have gone back to school because I was on sick leave at the time. It also said they would cut my salary."
The accusations. At that point his union intervened and asked the provincial school office to revoke the measure because there was no time to produce material in his favour. However, this is denied. Meanwhile, Francescangeli asks the school to be able to access the documents in order to understand what the accusations leveled against her were: «They accused me of having made the children pray, of having made a rosary but also of having terrorized them when, first Christmas, I had explained the dangers of smoking, after various questions from the children. In short, an educational lesson». The teacher turned to a lawyer: «We are preparing the appeal to be presented in Court. I don't deserve this, it's devastating, it's humiliating."
The school. The director of the institute Alessandro Cortese doesn't mince words: "I can't make any statement on the matter." Many mothers, on the other hand, are a flood: "We can't wait for the teacher to return to school with our children - says Alessia Mirisola - It is too strong a measure". Veronica Pinna, another mother: «All of this is absurd. For many serious things the school closes its eyes, not for this one. I dissociate myself from the accusations made against the teacher by two mothers and from the behavior of the manager who, instead of asking for the intervention of the school office, had to resolve the matter at school only with the person directly concerned». For the mothers it does not end here: "We will ask for access to the documents - concludes Pinna - We want to understand why only the very few mothers who complained were heard and not all the parents in the class".