In the 3300-inhabitant community Crêts en Belledonne in the department of Isère, parents have chosen an unusual way to point out the local educational emergency: Because a class threatened because of lack of students closing it, they carried without further ado 15 sheep as new pupils of the elementary school in the place East of France.
In March, the school learned that one of the 11 classes is likely to be canceled in the next school year, as the number of students dropped slightly from 266 to 261. A breeder from the area brought about 50 sheep, their birth certificates and a dog to school. 15 animals were then symbolically enrolled in the presence of students, parents and teachers.
They wanted to mobilize people with the action in a humorous way, said Gaelle Laval of the Association of Parents Councils FCPE, which was instrumental in organizing the "sheep registration" of Tuesday. "We have students with problems here, but national education officers do not care about local conditions, they're just numbers." The community has invested in recent years in the school, now is the endangered.
The Mayor of Crêts en Belledonne, Jean-Louis Maret, supported the action of the parents, who were "playful but not aggressive".