“Overcoming the critical issues due to the changed jurisprudential orientation” is in these words of the Minister of Education of Merit Joseph Vallettara the solution to the case of 387 teachers (mostly women) who were risking their jobs in public schools. We had them spoken here as a paradoxical bureaucratic tangle that overshadowed the primary school, the commitment of the teachers and incomprehensible positions taken by the ministry of Via Trastevere. The teachers had not shown up for a competition test because they were ill with Covid, only to be readmitted, promoted and become full-time teachers, after an appeal with a favorable ruling from the TAR. The judges had, in fact, established the holding of supplementary tests for them.
School, ministry and appeal
The Ministry of Education, however, had appealed to the Council of State which had agreed with it. Ten days ago the mobilization of teachers throughout Italy with questions in Parliament of the Democratic Party and the Greens-Italian Left. Last night Minister Valditara made it known that the solution to the matter is near. Not completely closed, perhaps because an administrative provision is missing, however the minister will not deny himself to close a bureaucratic "mess". “Teachers risk having their inclusion in the merit rankings revoked, but we have decided to guarantee teaching continuity taking into account the interests of students and we have activated the appropriate regulatory initiatives to allow the critical issues to be overcome". Here, the word is enough, moreover from an esteemed professor of law.
“No unilateral solution”
The ministry, which inherited the problem from the previous government and also for this reason, wanted to reconstruct the story yesterday. The 387 teachers were winners of the supplementary tests of the competitions announced in 2020. It came to them participation barred to the written tests originally scheduled by the Administration - it is said in a long note - because they were unable to do so due to the restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. “The first judicial rulings were favorable to the interested parties. The ministry arranged supplementary sessions of written and oral tests." The Council of State with sentence no. 766/24, essentially said that there was no need to carry out those additional tests.
So what about everyone at home? No. “The ministry it will not proceed to unilaterally terminate the employment relationships of these teachers during the current school year. We decided to guarantee teaching continuity taking into account the interest of the students", explained Valditara. “The ministry has also already activated the appropriate measures regulatory initiatives to allow the overcoming of the critical issues due to the changed jurisprudential orientation which would make the supplementary tests passed by these teachers uselessly". Covid wasn't enough to threaten the already precarious long-term teachers, sentences were also needed.
