The families of the 6th grade students at the Concepció school in Barcelona are worried. The reason? The difficulties that they sense that some of their children will have in obtaining a place at Jaume Balmes, one of the institutes in the Dreta neighborhood of L'Eixample where students from Concepció usually make the leap to take ESO. And all because of the priority, via regulations, of professional music or dance students who combine these studies with secondary education. These students have enrollment preference since the last year at this center even if they do not reside in the neighborhood or come from centers attached to the institute. At the moment, 19 of these students have pre-registered at Balmes (17 who come from non-affiliated centers and two who do). The families propose that the ratio per classroom be increased or that one more line be opened to alleviate this decrease in supply.
“We demand an expansion of the Balmes offering, whether through an increase in the number of students per class or the creation of an extraordinary group,” Jordi Iglesias, member of the AFA (student families association) of the school, tells La Vanguardia. Conception. He emphasizes that 17 of these students from non-affiliated centers have enrolled when there are 75 places, “which represents 23% of the offer.” “This fact greatly reduces the possibilities of access to the center for the students of the primary schools assigned to Balmes, who are students from the neighborhood,” he adds.
Faced with this reality, they decided to contact the Consorci d'Educació de Barcelona, which just last Monday responded to them in writing. It does not go into evaluating their requests to increase the ratio or create a new line, but limits itself to confirming “the priority of access ahead of affiliation” – through a resolution of the Department of Education – of the students who simultaneously study ESO. and professional music or dance teachings. He also argues that there are two more centers in Barcelona (apart from Balmes) where these students have this priority (Poeta Maragall and Fort Pius) and remembers that the Concepció school has, in addition to Balmes, two more affiliated institutes: also Poet Maragall and the Institut Escola Eixample.
It is true, these students with priority in enrollment have two more centers to which they can enroll, but they have mostly opted for Balmes, where 17 have pre-registered, one at Poeta Maragall and none at Fort Pius.
Beyond that, the Consorci underlines in its writing that “it guarantees a place in 1st year of ESO to families in 6th year of Concepció in one of the three attached centers as long as these three centers have been incorporated into the three first options for the pre-registration application" and also remembers - sources from the Consorci have also done so to this newspaper - "that the public secondary schools in Eixample have sufficient capacity to absorb the demand from the attached primary schools and the demand for applications of simultaneity.”
The answer does not satisfy the families, who explain that there are multiple reasons why Balmes is their reference center. The first, for a geographical issue. “It is the institute that is closest to our school, hence it would seem the most logical step to take. In the end, one of the most important variables that all families consider is geographic proximity,” Iglesias argues.
The second has a historical component. "The vast majority of students who leave Concepció opt for Balmes, which makes students perceive it as their natural evolution after primary school."
There is also the reputation of the center, “an institute that over the years has maintained a certain prestige within the public education offering.” And since last year there is a fourth reason. “We have groups from 4th, 5th and 6th grade that go to Balmes once a week to play volleyball. They have the Balmes shirt and feel their colors, so to speak. It is a way to deepen these ties and it helps that there is this preference for this institute.”
They do not understand that for all this it is not possible to increase the center's offering. Above all, having been done before. This is how the director of Balmes, with whom they met, explained it to them, that she would not frown upon creating a new line in 1st year of ESO. She also showed understanding – “she knows the neighborhood well,” says Iglesias – in the face of the concern of the families, to whom she reported - according to the latter - that this preference was reactivated last year after having not been applied for several years. .
This priority is marked in article 85 of organic law 2/2006, which details that “those students who simultaneously take regulated music or dance classes and secondary education classes will have priority to be admitted to centers that teach education classes.” secondary school that the educational Administration determines. The same treatment will be applied to students who follow high-performance sports programs.” For Iglesias, there is “an erratic and non-transparent application of the law.”
For the moment, the families of Concepció have contacted the other primary schools attached to Balmes to try to coordinate in such a way that the claim is not just for one center. They also do not rule out resorting to administrative litigation and challenging the prescriptions. “We think it is good that those who pursue professional music or dance studies have this right, but we must also preserve the rights of the rest of the students,” concludes Iglesias.
