It was a letter signed by the professor Antonino Furnari, head of the 7th Circle teaching management to raise a new hornet’s nest around the issue of the services which for many years were managed by the Auser volunteers of Piacenza. About a fortnight ago there was the first episode with a stop and go: initially the collaboration with the volunteers was suspended and after a few days it started again but from then on it was already clear that it would be a short-term extension . The letter sent by the manager to the families instead put in black and white the fact that before and after school will no longer be managed by the Auser’s “volunteer grandparents” (or at least not only by them) and above all will become paid. A far from trivial outlay which according to forecasts could be around 25/30 euros for each of the two time slots, the entrance one (7.30 – 8.30am Plesso Pezzani and 7.30am – 8.00am Plexo XXV Aprile) and the one in exit (4.30pm – 5.30pm Plesso Pezzani and 4.00pm – 5.00pm Plesso XXV Aprile). Anyone wishing to opt for both should pay around 50 euros. But why will families next year have to pay for what until now was free? One might say due to cuts decided by the Municipality but the councilor Nicoletta Corvi provides his version in a press release (see below) which we try to summarize and translate into simple language.
First of all, it clarifies how the agreement with Auser will definitively close at the end of the current extension which will last until August 31st. After this date, any new entities (assuming they exist) may be able to manage the surveillance and crossing service in front of schools, such as voluntary associations, social promotion associations, etc. including obviously Auser herself. It is likely that the organizational conditions of the new agreement will be different from the current ones and therefore it will be necessary to see whether Auser will still be interested in continuing the relationship.
What will change radically, however, will be above all the before and after school activities which were also carried out by Auser volunteers and which could now be entrusted – at least in part – to “experts” who should also be contacted and selected directly by the principals of the schools to whom the Municipality has “passed” the burden.
Councilor Corvi justifies the entrusting of the children’s reception and return service to specialized personnel on the one hand with the desire to free up the volunteers “from excessive and inappropriate responsibilities” on the other “allow before and after school time to be a profitable time, in which we can offer diversified and attractive educational and free time activities”. This statement suggests that today what was offered by the volunteers was little more than a parking service, not very profitable even if it was free. With the experts in the field these pre and post moments will become a qualified service that will provide continuous responses to the needs of familieswho will however have to open their wallets.
A choice made by the council led by Katia Tarasconi which is provoking various political reactions.
Soresi (FdI): “Cutting the Auser service represents a senseless choice, which totally goes against the interest of the entire community”
” I learned a little while ago, from some parents who were incredulous and sincerely angry, about the definitive cut in the Auser service for before-school and after-school. In fact, starting from September, we read in the communication sent to the families, “the service will be paid by the families”.
The Administration has therefore definitively decided to cut the costs of the Auser service, despite the fact that Councilor Corvi had publicly announced the resumption of the suspended services not even a month ago. Once again this Administration knowingly decides not only not to help families (the firm no to a question of mine in which I asked for the recognition of a voucher for the many families excluded from the rankings for entry to nursery schools dates back to a few months ago) but even to burden them with further costs.
Cutting the Auser service represents a senseless choice, which goes totally against the interest of the entire community: saving on pensioners and families – on the one hand – and squandering on the superfluous – on the other – is an indication not only of poor foresight but of total interest and respect for all citizens.
Before and after school service, Zandonella (Lega): “Due to cuts by the municipality, the costs will fall on families”
“Following the communication from the Educational Directorate of the 7th Circle of Piacenza addressed to the parents of the students regarding the activation of the before and after school service of the 2024/2025 school year, the Lega councilor Luca Zandonella intervenes: “The wicked choices of the he Tarasconi administration regarding the cut of the Auser elderly has repercussions on the citizens: reading that, starting from the new school year, the before and after school service will be paid by the families – around 30 euros per month – leaves you amazed. Stunned because the Tarasconi administration has a mountain of resources to manage, thanks to the choices made in these two years of office, such as deciding to increase the municipal income tax, how to make access to practices for professionals a fee, how increase the costs of access to various municipal services, for example entry to swimming pools. The municipal budget is prosperous and the Tarasconi council decides to cut the expense reimbursements of the elderly people of Piacenza in the Auser: an absolute shame that must be remedied by retracing one’s steps. In a difficult historical period, the costs borne by families are further increasing: is this the sensitivity of the left at the helm of the city? Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence: will the Tarasconi administration be able to do it?”
This is the press release from councilor Corvi
“Unfortunately, once again I have to intervene to correct botched news that aims to create controversy and alarm but which has no basis in the reality of things.
As I have reiterated several times over the last few weeks, the service of Auser volunteers will continue as announced until the end of the school and educational year. The agreement with Auser itself, which will expire on 30 June, will in fact be extended to the end of August precisely to allow the continuity of the services and interventions underway.
Also in recent weeks I announced that these months would be dedicated to preparing the new Notice aimed at identifying voluntary and social promotion associations that can make volunteers available to support schools and other citizen services that benefit from the same support. Auser will certainly be able to participate in the Notice also given the significant availability of volunteers and the experience gained which has allowed us to maintain a fruitful collaboration with the Administration to date aimed at strengthening and diversifying responses to citizens.
We have therefore started a constructive discussion with the school managers precisely in order to identify any critical issues and priorities to jointly define the direction to be taken for the formulation of the new notice, in the part obviously specifically concerning the school sector.
In addition to identifying with the managers the needs of the various groups relating to the reception and return services of the boys and girls, to the so-called policemen responsible for the protection and surveillance of the external areas and crossings, we also addressed the pre and post services school, identifying the opportunity to support volunteers with the presence of specialized personnel, as we have already experienced in the before and after school services launched this year 2023/2024 on the initiative of the administration, for some nursery schools . The choice of individual managers to freely and autonomously identify local entities capable of guaranteeing coverage of before and after school with their own specialized personnel goes in a double direction: on the one hand to protect and relieve from excessive and inappropriate responsibilities the committed volunteers who have often found themselves managing somewhat complex and delicate situations and who instead, with this organizational method, will be able to truly be in support and guidance, more serene compared to managing children and groups, especially if numerous, sometimes truly difficult and burdensome; on the other hand, allowing the pre and post time to be a profitable time, in which we can offer diversified educational and free time activities, attractive to boys and girls in their further stay within the school.
Again with the managers we agreed that in these weeks they could gather the needs of the families and the availability of local entities to manage the before and after school service. The choice to identify a tariff, albeit limited, to be paid by families to cover the cost of specialized personnel, goes in the direction of enhancing the service, effectively making it available to those who need to find continuous answers to their needs, in a logic of co-responsibility between families, schools, managers and volunteers”.
