Thomazia Montoro: teachers are left without a job after 1 year – 03/27/2024 – Education

A year after being injured in the attack on the Thomazia Montoro school, in the west zone of São Paulo, teacher Ana Célia da Rosa, 59, says she did not receive psychological help or financial compensation and was no longer hired by the Tarcísio de Freitas government ( Republicans) to continue teaching.

Without work for three months, the history teacher has been selling Tupperware and cake to pay the bills.

Rita Reis, 68, was unable to return to the classroom due to psychological problems she developed after the attack. Still, she was unable to retire or change positions.

The two, as well as teacher Elisabeth Terneiro, who was killed by the 13-year-old student attacker, were hired on a temporary basis by the State Department of Education and, therefore, did not have the same labor rights that are guaranteed to permanent teachers.

“I was attacked inside the school, my safety was not guaranteed within my work environment. The government is not to blame for the attack, but it is responsible for what it did to the victims afterwards. They did not give us any support”, says Ana Célia, who He was stabbed 17 times by the student on March 27 last year. A third teacher and two students were also injured.

The injuries caused her to be away for 15 days, the same period that secretary Renato Feder defined as a break for the school community to recover from the tragedy. “I left the hospital and the next day I went back to school, they made me teach in the same room where I was stabbed by the boy”, she remembers.

Even with strong memories of the violence, the teacher worked throughout last year, until her temporary contract ended in December. As had happened in previous years, she hoped to get new classes at the beginning of 2024.

“I was in the same situation as thousands of teachers who were harmed by the new assignment rules that the government decided this year. I have been teaching for nine years in the state network and have never been without classes”, he says.

More than half of the 162,000 teachers in state schools are hired on a temporary basis. In previous years, priority was given to distributing classes to those with the longest experience in the network, that is, the most experienced. This year, the Tarcísio government changed the rule to prioritize those who were approved in a competition held in 2023, after ten years without selection.

“I took the test and had a very good score in the objective and written part of the test, but I didn’t do so well in the video they required. I was very sad, because I have experience, I love what I do, but I was eliminated for not knowing how to work well with technology”, he says.

Ana Célia is afraid that she was unable to take classes because she decided to file a compensation claim at the end of the year. “Several schools are without a teacher, including Thomazia Montoro herself, because traumatized teachers left there after the attack. I don’t understand why I can’t get classes.”

Rita Reis was also hit by the stab wounds inflicted by the student. She, however, decided that she would not return to the classroom because she had panic and anxiety attacks.

“I loved teaching, I loved being with the students, teaching. But, after the attack, I couldn’t deal with the fear of a child attacking me again”, he says.

Even with medical certificates proving the inconvenience, as she was temporary, Rita did not have the right to retire from her position or ask to be relocated to another that did not involve contact with students.

“I graduated at 55 and immediately started teaching online. I loved that I was never discriminated against in schools because of my age and I imagined that I would stay in the classroom for many years, but then this horrible situation happened.”

“Now, I’m here at 68 years old with no chance of getting another job and no retirement. I’m using the rest of the money I had saved over the years.”

Like Ana Célia, she says she did not receive psychological support or compensation for the mental and physical damage she suffered. Therefore, she decided to sue the Department of Education.

“The government had an obligation to guarantee my safety in that environment and it failed. A colleague was killed, a 13-year-old boy was arrested, his family was destroyed, teachers got sick. The government cannot pretend that none of this happened.”

As shown by the Sheet, the state’s responsibility for the safety of employees and students in cases of attack is practically pacified in the legal sphere. Even though events are considered difficult to predict, the Constitution establishes that the school is responsible for the safety of the community, therefore, states and municipalities must provide financial compensation to the victims.

Several states ended up getting ahead of the compensation processes and presented an out-of-court settlement to the families, in order to avoid very high compensation amounts. This was the strategy used by then-governor João Doria with the victims of the attack on the Raul Brasil school, in Suzano, which occurred five years ago.

The Tarcísio administration, however, only decided to propose the agreement after receiving four compensation claims related to the attack in Thomazia.

In a note, the secretariat says that it “remembers with regret the attack on the Thomazia Montoro school” and maintains an individual and collective psychological care service active in the unit.

“The school’s team of psychologists carried out more than 60 consultations with teachers and students, in addition to monitoring in reference Basic Health Units”, says the position.

The ministry cites the offer of 550 psychologists for the network — the equivalent of 1 for every 6,300 students. “In addition, currently, all schools have at least one Coexistence Guidance Teacher (POC) and, this year, a notice is planned to hire more professionals.”

The secretariat confirms that Ana Célia was not classified to be hired, but says that she can continue trying to teach in other schools.

Regarding Rita Reis’ situation, he states that the teacher has an active contract and is assisted by a psychologist from the state’s Victim Reference and Support Center.

He also said that he proposed to the teachers that they suspend the compensation processes for 90 days so that negotiations could be carried out towards a possible out-of-court settlement.