Hoenderloo students are given a different place
The Hoenderloo College does not close until all pupils are placed elsewhere. Last Friday's action meeting on Friday paid off. “It is of course very sad that this school has to close,” says AObnegotiator Philippe Abbing.
image: Angeliek de Jonge
Last week almost the entire team of Hoenderloo College – secondary special education – was present at the action meeting organized by the education unions. Since the board announced the closure of both the schools and boarding schools in Hoenderloo and Deelen in December 2019, the umbrella foundation Pluryn has consistently stated that new, suitable places for the students have been found. To this day, however, this has not been arranged for all students. "In addition, no agreements had been made to arrive at a social plan for the teaching staff. That is why the staff took action. The requirements were short and sweet: Time, money and trust," says AObnegotiator Philippe Abbing.
Social plan
This has led to a week of feverish conversations. “Fortunately, it turned out that a social plan could still be discussed, there was a much broader proposal than had been put forward in the negotiations in recent months," says Abbing. "Activation was necessary and helped. We now have an arrangement for staff departures. There are also guarantees in the closure plan for placing children in other schools, but it remains a sour apple that Hoenderloo is closed.”
Teaching staff also do not have to rush to find a place that does not suit them
The school will not close until a suitable place has been found for all students. Where the school would previously close its doors on August 1, this has now been extended to October 1 - provided that students have been accommodated by then. “More time and space has been made for the teaching staff to look for a new place, so that they don't have to rush to a place that doesn't suit them,” says Abbing.
We are all left with a bad feeling
A social plan that will be signed next Monday also states that every employee will receive three months of severance bonus, plus a so-called premium tier - also a severance bonus - based on years of employment at Hoenderloo and its predecessors. There is also a mobility budget that guides people from work to work. "The shutdown should never have happened this way," Abbing says. “We are now faced with a fait accompli in which we have tried to make the best of it together, but we are all left with a bad feeling. With taking care of the children that everyone wanted to do their best for. ”
