The Lazio Regional Administrative Court annuls the competition for principals

The competition for 2900 principals that had already reached the oral interview stage has been skipped. The Lazio Regional Administrative Court has in fact accepted the appeal against its regularity, annulling it. However, the Ministry of Education is preparing to contest the decision with an appeal to the Council of State, while the unions speak of a “disaster” and an “ordeal” for the people involved. 15 people participated in the competition, 9600 passed the pre-selection tests, 3800 passed the written tests, and the oral tests were nearing completion. There are approximately 2900 places. According to the decision, the examining commission included people who were in a condition of incompatibility, and “it follows that the presence of such members makes the commission’s work illegitimate in the part in which the evaluation criteria were established”; furthermore, "it further follows that such illegitimacy has a cascade effect on the work of all the commissions, since the evaluation criteria were defined by an illegitimately formed body". Against the decision of the judges of the Third Bis section, the Ministry of Education is already preparing the appeal with the State Attorney's Office. According to ministerial sources, the TAR accepted the appeal on the basis of an unfounded censure; in particular, the conditions for the deemed incompatibility of some commissioners do not exist. Now the ministry is aiming for an urgent suspension, with the hope of saving the competition. "The cancellation of the competition for principals is a disaster for the Italian school system". This is what Roberta Fanfarillo, a CGIL union representative, said. "Two thousand schools would be left without school principals". "We are asking for an urgent meeting with Minister Bussetti so that at least part of the procedure can be saved". For Uil Scuola, with this decision "a judicial ordeal begins that sees, both in those excluded and in the winners of the competition, the victims of a system that shows, once again, all its limits".