At the beginning of October, clusters of pupils streamed in and out of the Gambetta-Carnot school complex in Arras. They crossed the small Frachon square, or lingered on the benches surrounding the grassy and wooded parks. The atmosphere was still imbued with the memory of the terror attack that occurred at this school of over 2,000 students and 192 staff, on October 13, 2023, when literature teacher Dominique Bernard was murdered. The square was surrounded by concrete blocks set up after the tragedy. A few steps from the entrance gates, imposing planters had been placed at the spot where the teacher was killed by one of the school's former students, Mohammed Mogouchkov.

François Duceppe-Lamarre, a history and geography teacher at Gambetta, wondered for a while whether he'd still be able to go through the school's entrance, which became a crime scene, on a daily basis. For several months, he preferred side doors. "Today, I can go through, just like through any other door," he confessed, before adding, with a hint of emotion: "Sometimes, I go through, and I say hello to Dominique, I spare a thought for him."

One year on, the trauma caused by the attack is still very much alive in the Gambetta-Carnot educational community, which paid tribute to Bernard on Friday, October 11, before a public ceremony organized by the town hall, on Sunday, with Isabelle Bernard, the teacher's widow.

Three members of the school staff were injured in the attack. Some of the teachers had to go on leave for several months, out of shock. Besides the violent nature of the crime and the long process of mourning, everyone was marked by the hours spent locked down in classrooms on October 13, 2023, alert for every image broadcast on social media platforms. "The commemorations plunge us back into the events, it's very difficult for some of us, and both students and teachers break down. We can see that the cycle that began a year ago is not over," said a teacher named Duceppe-Lamarre, who added that he been working for the past year to "gradually regain enthusiasm" and "continue to work towards living together" harmoniously.

The Lille school district, in which Arras in located, has reactivated its counseling units for the commemoration period. The prefecture, the France Victimes association and the district's education authority have set up several psychological support systems, for students and staff, on the school campus. An individual and collective ongoing support system was set up by the education authority in the spring. "It's important for us to respond to the need for continuity of long-term support that staff expressed," said Paul-Eric Pierre, the secretary general of the education authority. Gambetta has also been in contact with staff at the middle school where Samuel Paty, a teacher murdered by an Islamic terrorist on October 16, 2020, worked near his school in the western Paris region.

You have 53.69% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.