At the Anatole-France B school in Vénissieux, which is part of the REP+ network, the teaching staff have been raising concerns since the start of the school year about the lack of AESH (Accompagnants des Élèves en Situation de Handicap). These are support workers who assist children with disabilities or special needs. Out of the seven AESH required to support 28 children with individual accompaniment needs, only three were present at the pre-return period. After a first strike on September 4, the team plans a new mobilization for Tuesday, September 29. "Today, it is not a societal choice that is being denied to us — it is the means to implement it," the team testified. This situation reflects a broader issue faced by many schools this month. The school year did not start as planned at the Anatole-France B school, which is part of the Elsa-Triolet reinforced priority education network. During the pre-return, three of the seven required AESH were missing. In total, 28 children have individual accompaniment notifications, requiring about 150 hours of support. Families and the staff have since mobilized, with a petition collecting nearly 70 signatures, more than half of the families at the school. For Laurent Tournier, the ULIS coordinator, this situation has changed his daily routine significantly: "On paper, my role is clear: to coordinate the inclusion of students with special educational needs in regular classes. In practice, since the start of the school year, I spend most of my time plugging gaps that neither I nor my team have the means to plug." The lack of AESH is not just an administrative issue — it directly affects the children's needs. These are hours of individual accompaniment that are not being fulfilled, meaning a child's right to support is not being respected, the team explained. The school faces multiple needs requiring significant pedagogical adaptations, including behavioral disorders, attention disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and sometimes non-verbal children. However, the staff often lack the training or specialized skills necessary. "The students require fine pedagogical adaptations. But the teachers, in their majority, have not followed the CAPPEI, the training meant to specifically equip these methods. And the AESH, they sometimes have to perform professional gestures that normally fall within the scope of a specialized educator — without having the title, training, or status." The team has also reached out to the Pôle d'Appui à la Scolarité (PAS), but it has not adequately addressed the school's difficulties linked to the lack of resources. "The methods proposed were those applied in IME — with professionals such as specialized educators, psychomotor therapists, psychologists. We, at the school, only have AESH. We also do not have the appropriate equipment," they said. The ULIS coordinator has to manage multiple situations. He supports the 12 students in his program, but also intervenes with other children in the school. One student is only welcomed six hours per week due to lack of resources, and another first-grade student with significant behavioral disorders benefits from his intervention three hours per week. His AESH is currently notified for 15 hours, while the team estimates that 18 would be needed. "Again, it is the partner parents who had to accept that their child does not come twice afternoons per week, due to insufficient accompaniment." The difficulty is not only for children with notifications. Other students face significant difficulties without benefiting from individual accompaniment. However, "a student who disengages gradually loses confidence in himself, loses his student posture — and the main consequence, ultimately, is the degradation of the climate of the entire class." This accumulation of needs also weighs on the teachers: "The general feeling among all is that our classes have become extremely heterogeneous, and the multiplicity of needs and difficulties we observe and detect overwhelms us — without us being able to respond to them." The adaptations intended for ULIS students are designed to benefit the entire class, he explained. However, they also require additional time and resources from the teachers. After the strike on September 4, the team plans a new mobilization on Tuesday and is trying to find solutions while spending an energy that is gradually turning into overload. "All these students need human resources — a sufficient number of AESH, trained staff in inclusive education, specialized educators, psychologists — and material resources. We will only succeed in an inclusive school if it welcomes everyone, with quality, thinking about long-term success." For the school team, the question goes far beyond their case but raises the issue of the resources devoted to inclusive education. "Would you ask a mechanic to repair a car without tools?" they asked. "Today, it is not a societal choice that is being denied to us — it is the means to implement it."