Aubagne: "It stresses me out a bit"… Returning to middle school to "turn the page," three weeks after the shooting

Bursts of voices rise from small groups of middle school students, visibly happy to see one another again. Greetings are exchanged. Fist bumps are shared. Parents' cars double-park to drop off teenagers. At Lakanal Middle School in Aubagne, three weeks after a ninth-grade student opened fire on his principal and a teacher before being subdued by the senior educational advisor (CPE), school life resumed this Monday.

"I have Spanish, tech, and physics this afternoon," Kimberly* lists shortly before 2:00 p.m. The morning had been cleared of regular classes for students to give staff time to gather. At least for those who were able to: "It’s inevitably a bit complicated. We are trying to regain a semblance of normalcy, but those for whom it was still too difficult to return did not come," one staff member remarks, while most offered a polite—and understandable—refusal to speak.

Two police crews present

Such restraint is not consistently found among students or their parents. "The children—and the parents—are all eager for things to get back to normal," says Christina, who came, as an exception, to drop off her sixth-grade son and ensure his smooth entry into the school grounds. "I get very anxious, and I think between the two, parents are the more worried ones. But we have to turn the page, even if the children all have some apprehension and what happened frightens me." To reassure students, parents, and teaching staff alike, two police crews were present as the doors of Lakanal Middle School opened.

"Sure, it stresses me out a bit," admits Clara*, a ninth-grader, who explains that she has shared most of her schooling since elementary school with the young shooter. "Since last year, he had been saying slightly bizarre things," she notes having observed, after the teenager began forging ties with the online TCC (True Crime Community) movement, which glorifies mass killers. Even so, her friend believes it is "time to stop talking about it. It feels good to talk about it among ourselves, but it won't change anything. If we want to restart peacefully, we have to avoid constantly talking about it."

"The most important thing is to put humanity back into middle schools"

Pauline*, a parent who also came exceptionally today to escort her child, shares that view: "We talked about it a lot at home, and there is also the psychological support unit at the school, but you have to know when to stop so the kids don't constantly dwell on it and can move forward." Outside the school entrance, a group of three boys recite geography definitions, clearly stemming from home assignments. Laure, for her part, has no desire to be back in class. "Basically, middle school is annoying," the young girl quips, a sign that things seem to be heading back to normal.

Once all the students had entered the building, two parents converse with the officers on site: "The little ones are traumatized. My daughter remains haunted by the sound of the gunshot. She was still talking to me about it yesterday [Sunday] evening. Personally, I think the most important and effective thing is to put humanity back into middle schools. More than a metal detector at the entrance, what's needed is a nurse, a psychologist, human beings," says this father, who also commends the educational team, calling them "admirable" in their dedication and presence.

"You have to be ready for anything"

This scene is observed from afar by a military father in uniform and a green beret who came to drop off his daughter. "I'm not here so much because of what happened, but because of everything else. You never know what can happen. You have to be ready for anything. I come whenever I can. We talked thoroughly at home. It's important to let it out to avoid traumas that might resurface. There is also the psychological support unit in place, which is a very good thing."

Resuming classes is already a victory for the school. "There will be a before and an after," believes the mother of a sixth-grader who asked her this morning before heading back to school "if the bullet impact would still be visible on the math classroom blackboard." The board has presumably been replaced, but erasing the marks left by the attack will take a little more time. Starting with rediscovering "classes and normal life at the school," one parent concludes.