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The elementary school teacher Marisa Francescangeli (58) had made a bracelet with the children on the last day of school before Christmas last year, which was structured like a rosary. Then she had prayed a rosary, an Ave Maria and an Our Father with them. When the parents of two children complained, the teacher apologized at a parents’ meeting; Religious acts are not allowed in state schools in Italy.
In mid-March, the school administration, in coordination with the provincial school board, imposed a 20-day suspension from work and a salary reduction as a disciplinary measure against the teacher. When she stayed away from classes because of the suspension that applied from March 27 to April 15, the matter became public. First local, then national media reported on the case.
The head of the right-wing populist party Lega, Matteo Salvini, called the school board’s decision “crazy”. Meanwhile, Francescangeli has said in interviews that she has lodged a legal appeal against the disciplinary sanction.
Source: Nachrichten
