Paolo Mendico’s death, inspectors contest lies at the school: failure to anti-bullying protocol

The school could have done more and when the manager and teachers were questioned about the case of Paolo Mendico “a defensive mechanism was triggered”. To write it, as revealed by Republicare the inspectors of the Ministry of Merit and Education in their report after the checks in thePacinotti technical institute which were arranged due to the suicide of the fourteen year old in his home in Santi Cosma e Damiano (Latina).

According to the inspectors it should have started an antibullying protocol in a turbulent class and “with behaviors that do not comply with the school regulations”. Instead, the newspaper claims, during the inspection after the suicide on 11 September it emerged that “there is no trace of an in-depth evaluation regardless of the legal classification of the episodes” in the face of “almost aggressive” behaviour. At the same time, however, the inspectors, having collected the cases reported by the parents, specified that “repetitiveness over time is lackingone of the necessary elements to constitute bullying” but the “aggressive behaviors” should not “exempt school staff from taking due responsibility”.

The inspectors of the Ministry of Education and Merit have requested three disciplinary proceedings against the school manager “for the responsibilities that concern the managerial function”, of vice leader and of manager of the institute’s branch for “omissive conduct”. Two judicial investigations are taking place in parallel with the Mim investigation.

From the 28 pages of the Mim report emerges – according to the newspaper – a mix of lies and omissions. The inspectors would have written that “a defensive mechanism has been triggered, so much so that this panel considers the description of the dynamics of the class more plausible than we read in the minutes of the councils class instead of that offered by the teachers during the assessment”.

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