[EN] Tension between the families of El Espartidero over the management of their soup kitchen: «We cannot be considered illegal»

Less than twenty days before classes begin, the El Espartidero school in the Santa Isabel neighborhood could be left without a dining room during the next school year. This has been warned by the family association (AFA) of the center that, for ten years, has been in charge of the management. Sources from the Department of Educación indicate that they held meetings with the associations of families to inform them that the legal services of the DGA had detected «legal doubts» about the operation of the canteen services self-managed by the families of schools. The AFA thus interprets that they will not be able to continue managing the center’s dining room.

Faced with this situation, the AFA of El Espartidero presented allegations in which they «defended their model and requested that the situation and the consequences of this decision be assessed». In response, they explain from Education that to avoid «any uncertainty or alteration» for this course that starts in September, they reached the «common agreement» that the AMPAS could continue to manage the dining room this year, as long as they correct «the objections detected«. Meanwhile, the Administration will look for «viable solutions» that provide «total legal certainty» to an «essential» service for the well-being of the educational community.

However, the AFA has decided that it will not continue «with the economic and administrative management of the dining room» if its management is considered «illegal«.

«The AMPAs cannot be considered illegal for some things and, at the same time, responsible for managing public money during another course, hiring staff, placing orders, paying bills and assuming all the obligations that the operation of the canteen entails,» they denounce in a statement addressed to the educational community of the center. In this sense, the association asks the DGA for a «solution» that allows them to continue with self-management.

Faced with this situation, Education assures that it will guarantee «the provision of the service through its own formulas, as has been provided in the rest of the school canteens» in those centers where the AMPAs decide not to continue managing the school canteen during this course. In this line, they want to convey «a message of absolute tranquility in this regard«.

The families, who have already echoed the situation that the soup kitchen is going through, have come out in defense of the AFA. A mother of a student at the school points out that so far «everything had gone very well»: «It is local food because families buy everything from people in the gardens of Alfajarín, Villamayor, La Puebla… and it’s very healthy food. An external company is not going to do all this work or have the same conditions, it is going to be more expensive.»

In the same vein, another of the mothers also affirms that it is «impossible» to manage the dining room better and that she always boasts «of the wonder of service» they have. Some parents even define it as the «school badge«.

THE SCHOOL CALLS FOR «CALM»

The school management has sent a statement to families to also inform about the situation of the dining room from «tranquility, responsibility and transparency». In it, they confirm that the DGA «is reviewing the management model at the regulatory and legal level, and must specify the conditions and procedure that will govern the organization of the service of the eight schools with this self-management model».

In this sense, they will hold a meeting at the end of this month with the Department of Education to specify «the instructions and actions necessary to organize the service for the start of the 26-27 academic year«.

For this reason, they want to convey a message «of calm and confidence» to families. «Our objective as a center is unequivocal: to guarantee the continuity of the canteen service from the beginning of the next academic year and with all the necessary guarantees for our students and their families,» they say.