Over the past fifteen days, in almost every Italian province, hundreds of teachers with disabilities have had their fixed-term appointments cancelled. Their names appeared in the first bulletin from the Provincial School Offices. In the second, they disappeared as if by some evil spell. The Local School Offices (USPs) are calling it a "technical error," but the nationwide scope of the phenomenon suggests it's much more than a simple mistake.
Shared anger
Even on the island, teachers with disabilities are on the warpath. A "technical error" is being targeted, affecting those who should have been most protected by law. Essentially, several teachers with "the right to reserved positions"—as provided for by Law 68/1999 for the employment of people with disabilities and other protected categories—have received a bitter surprise. Namely, they have seen their appointments, received in early August through the "provincial rankings for substitutes," cancelled. "A huge insult," the island's teachers stated in a statement, "given that many of us had just recently been offered a one-year appointment leading to tenure." Instead, it was all in vain: the promised job stability lasted only a short time. A new bulletin from the provincial school offices revoked the entire agreement, complete with a startling and unconvincing reason: "There was a technical error in the algorithm."
Clarity
The teachers, devastated by the unwelcome news, are demanding clarity. "We knocked on the offices, requesting access to the documents, to find out just one thing: were those positions, once revoked, reassigned to other reserve staff or not? The response was this: 'Access to the documents is denied for privacy reasons.'" Thus, the mystery deepens, and discontent among Sardinian teachers is spreading. "Yet no one asked for names or personal information: only numbers, only the truth. The silence and refusal fuel the suspicion that the law has not been respected."
Suspicions and appeals
According to the teachers' account, supported by their lawyers, the paradoxical situation cannot be explained by a "computer error" alone. This is why a wave of appeals is looming. "We have reconstructed a mosaic of injustices that until then had remained hidden in the folds of bureaucracy," say the Sardinian teachers involved. "Now, piece by piece, the truth is emerging: all those excluded are included in the additional lists in the first GPS group, and all are entitled to a quota of places reserved by law. This was not a simple technical error. The algorithm tweaked by the USPs across Italy eliminated our right to reserve positions. Thus, more than 30 teachers found ourselves united not only by the same exclusion but also by a common desire: to bring to light what had been denied, in the name of truth and justice."
