ASSOCIATIONS DES PARENTS D'ELÈVES DES ECOLES EUROPÉENNES BRUXELLES I - II - III
PARENTS ASSOCIATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN SCHOOLS BRUSSELS I - II – III
ELTERNVEREINIGUNGEN DER EUROPÄISCHEN SCHULE BRÜSSEL I - II – III

To the Members of the Board of Governors of the European Schools 

25 September 2006 

Dear Sir/Madam, 

A special session of the Board of Governors has been convened for 27 September with as its sole agenda item the proposal by Belgium of a site for a provisional school. 

Belgium’s proposal is completely unsuitable. It takes no account either of the request of the Board of Governors to be given two real options for a choice of site, or of the Board’s decision to regard the provisional school as the nucleus of the future Laeken school and therefore the need to locate it reasonably close to the Laeken site. 

An overwhelming majority (95%) of officials and servants of the Institutions meeting on 19 September 2006 in a General Assembly said NO to Berkendael and insisted that Belgium should as a matter of urgency make an alternative proposal in line with the spirit of the request it received from the Board of Governors, i.e. by proposing a site close to the future fourth school. 

Belgium continues to push a site which was already rejected by the Board of Governors in 1999 and by the parents on numerous occasions. This site is not appropriate for a European school, and if it were chosen it would cause insurmountable practical difficulties for organising studies and for the future transfer of pupils. Moreover, the suggestion that prefabs be placed in the already overcrowded schools or at Berkendael (the site is far too small) testifies to a complete ignorance of the whole issue. 

We ask you to reject the proposal of Berkendael and to call on Belgium to propose as a matter of urgency at least two reasonable options for a provisional site, for which there is now an obvious and pressing need. 

Whatever the choice of the Board of Governors regarding the future site, we would reiterate the provisional character of such a site as was confirmed at the last meeting in The Hague last April. 

You will find enclosed the joint position of the 3 APEEEs (Bxl1, Bxl 2, Bxl 3) setting out all our arguments on the subject. 

Yours faithfully 

Copies to:	Secretary-General 
Commissioner Kallas

Alain Kruys, Michaël Stenger, Tony Bernard. 

Joint position of the 3 APEEEs 
(Meeting of the Board of Governors of 27.9.06) 

The 3 Brussels APEEEs maintain their position on the current proposal from the Belgian state in connection with the provisional school, namely: 

-	Refusal of Berkendael as a provisional school for the following reasons: 
•	site is on the other side of town from the 4th school (Laeken); 
•	not enough space to house the pupil numbers expected between now and the opening of the Laeken school; 
•	infrastructure too small to provide normal levels of teaching and services (sports, canteen, extra-curricular, nursery school, etc); 
•	entrance too narrow to allow proper school bus access; 
•	existence of a prison next to the school, which could give rise to serious problems; 
•	inconsistent with the Belgian policy of spreading officials across Brussels and the surrounding area (and thus siting the 4th school in Laeken, to the north of the city); 
•	inconsistent attitude towards parents, who will be encouraged to settle in the north of Brussels for Bxl 4, whereas children will be obliged for several years to travel for hours in the buses to get to school and back home. 

-	The site must remain provisional - otherwise: 
•	creation of an unsustainable and unbalanced situation; 
•	separation of language sections over 2 sites, created a host of teaching problems; 
•	inequalities in relation to the facilities available at the 2 sites, 
•	inequalities in relation to the access to and quality levels of the various services at the 2 sites (canteen, transport, Césame, etc); 
•	return to the arguing about which pupils should go on to Laeken (contrary to the decision adopted last April in The Hague). 

-	No (new or additional) prefabs at the sites of the 3 existing schools (Bxl 1, Bxl 2, Bxl 3): 
•	this is unacceptable, as regards both the normal operation of the schools and safety considerations. 

(signed) 			(signed) 			(signed) 
Alain KRUYS 		Michaël STENGER 		Tony Bernard 
President 			President 			President 
APEEE BXL i 			APEEE BXL II 			APEEE BXL III