The teacher attacked in Castellamare: “It was a whole family, for now I’m not going back to school”

ROME – Fix the wide, new glasses, the ones from before were broken by an enraged mother over her daughter’s shortcomings. Adjust the collar of the suit. Lucia Celotto61 years old, an English teacher for thirty-five years, from the living room of Castellamare di Stabia tries to tell on web TV The Voice of the School the new frontier of violence against teachers: family aggression inside the classroom. Four days have passed since that fury and the professor has not recovered. “There were four of them, all family members. They entered through the main door without anyone trying to stop them. In front of everyone was Francesca’s mother, a girl from the first year of the art school, section A. Then her husband, Francesca’s grandmother and a young man. They started looking for me, classroom by classroom”.

Looking for her, all four?

“Yes, the Istituto Plinio Seniore is huge, organized in several wings. Section A of the Artistico is at the farthest point from the entrance. It was the fourth period, I was just finishing up the service. Last Thursday, just before noon. With their cellphones on, the kids knew live that something was happening. One class warned the other, they signaled the advance of that family inside the school”.

Did she understand what was happening, did she stay in the courtroom?

“Yes, I was calm and I wanted to convey peace of mind to my boys. They told me: ‘Prof, be careful’. I never imagined an attack in the corridor, after thirty-five years of service”.

“The principal did not want to warn me of the danger”

Did she know that those people were coming right to her?

“Actually, no. The day before I had been summoned by the principal, Fortune Santaniello. She had told me about the protests of some parents, generically, without naming names. They accused me of giving votes with double standards, to the children of alleged friends and to nobody’s children. I couldn’t listen to those slanders, I spent part of my life educating kids released from prison. I don’t believe in the power of evaluation and I’m quite generous in my judgments. Kids are not numbers, hours of absence, lateness, report cards, they are stories and problems. I told the principal: ‘If you don’t want to tell me who is accusing me, I’m leaving, I don’t want to listen to these allegations anymore’. With those silences, the manager did not give me the opportunity to take a risk measure and she did not even want a trade unionist colleague to be present at the interview.

If the manager had told her that the voices came from Francesca’s mother, what would have changed?

“I would have remembered that aggressive woman I had met in the first quarter, after a four given to her daughter and to many students who hadn’t done their homework. I don’t check it often, but if I find that homework is missing, I can’t pretend to I was struck by that woman’s constant questions about a classmate of her daughter: ‘And why didn’t she get a grade too, why?’. She seemed so obsessed with the other girl that I had to say to her: ‘We want to talk about your daughter’s performance?’. Then I learned that he had already attacked some female colleagues.”

Back to Thursday at Ok Corral. It would appear to be a punitive expedition.

“They screamed like madmen, bad words in the corridors. The mother opened the doors of all the classrooms and asked: ‘Are you Celotto?’, and insults. They went up to the top floor, so as not to miss a classroom, and then they started to go down the stairs, up to the first floor where my A is”.

Francesca, the student daughter, what did she do in those moments?

“I had spoken in class about the accusations reported by the principal. All the boys had confirmed to me that it wasn’t true, I wasn’t showing favoritism. Francesca, on the other hand, was very agitated. She asked me to go to the bathroom, she was sick, I let her out . She never came back. At one point the screams outside the classroom became clear, close. Swearing, swearing. They were all scared, someone called the police”.

Did you hear the last door open, yours?

“I went out, into the corridor. I had finished the lesson. The mother was over there, her eyes full of hate. She didn’t explain why, she didn’t tell me about 4, about 5, but she ran towards me, filling me with insults. The boys were terrified. The woman started hitting me, slapping my head, my shoulders, my face.”

The janitor remained still during the attack

Were there school collaborators around her?

“One, on the floor. He hasn’t moved.”

Has anyone defended her?

“Some students, one girl in particular. That woman also took it out on her, threatened her: ‘If you’re friends with this one, I’ll make you end up the same'”.

And the rest of the family?

“The grandmother was impressive, a bundle of malice and insults. She seemed ready to hit, too”.

Professor, did you react to so much violence?

“I was petrified. My grandchildren also asked me, they are in their fifth year at the same institute. No, it’s not in my nature and I didn’t want to show the worst of me to the students. I can’t believe one thing, you know, actually two”.

That is to say?

“How did the mother run free and undisturbed inside a school, to get to her prey?”.

And then?

“How did that woman attack me in front of 15-year-olds, they shouldn’t see this level of bullying,”

What did he do when the fury subsided?

“I went to the emergency room, alone. No one offered to drive me.”

The principal?

“I haven’t heard from her in four days.”

Will you go back to school, Professor Celotto?

“Not for now, I’m still shaken. They have to give me back my dignity as a teacher, we don’t deserve to be left to the beasts”.