The law teacher at the IIS Rosa Luxemburg in Bologna had not returned to class since last January, when he suffered an injury that forced him to be absent from school. Until last Sunday he showed up again. On television, wearing only a towel to cover his private parts. Jean Pascal Marcacci took part in the last episode of What’s the weather like as president of Aner, the naturist association of Emilia-Romagna. An apparition that did not go unnoticed by school staff and soon created a case. To the Courier of Bologna the director of the provincial school office Giuseppe Panzardi announced that an investigation will be launched: «I have received some material on this matter. We will make all the necessary assessments. It’s a situation we didn’t know about before, but this teacher has been injured for a few months. We will evaluate every possible aspect, we must first understand well what the situation is, for now I would not give any indication. When we receive a report of this type – he comments – we start the investigation and evaluate the case from a disciplinary, criminal or civil point of view”. The director of Rosa Luxemburg, Alessandra Canepa, expressed “astonishment at a performance like the one I witnessed on TV by a teacher absent due to injury”.
The teacher: «On Sunday evenings I do what I want»
The teacher, who is also a lawyer, appears calm and sure of his reasons, and a few days after the television appearance, he admits that he has no remorse. «I got injured at school, in January I broke three ribs and consequently had an aggravation of my lumbar and cervical situation: I have been undergoing rehabilitation therapy for three months», he tells Daniela Corneo on Courier of Bologna, «also on Monday I went to the treatment assigned to me by INAIL. For the rest I can do anything, I went to Fazio on Sunday evening and on Sunday evening, just like when I’m at school, I can do whatever I want, because that is my free time.” And indeed, he relaunches by attacking those who accuse him and defending the work of his association, which has “social promotion” purposes and which he has been involved in for 22 years. «They invited me to the show in my capacity as president and I didn’t define myself as a teacher nor, therefore, did I mention the school where I work», he explains, responding to those who criticize him for alleged damage to the institute’s image, «someone gets sick or is envious of the fact that I got so many plays, it’s not my problem. If Inail establishes that I must return to school on May 10th, I will be happy to do so, but I don’t understand that I have to ask for the school’s authorization to participate in a TV program in my free time and if they had invited me to a working day, I would have asked for a normal permit.” Convinced of his position, Marcacci reiterates that he went on TV as a guest and not as prof, therefore in no way could he have made the school “ridiculous”: “If I don’t violate the school’s laws, I can go wherever I want and it’s not right to self-censor me. If I couldn’t have done it, I wouldn’t have done it, but someone has to tell me officially.”
