Bailiffs raid Madrid School

 

The contents of a private school in the Chamartín neighborhood of Madrid were removed on Thursday under a court order, due to a 992,000-euro debt the education center has with the Spanish Social Security system.

Teachers and students looked on helplessly as chairs, whiteboards and shelves were loaded on to trucks, under the watchful eye of police officers.

"They started [removing the furniture] with the children still present," said Juan Manuel Muñoz, the father of a five-year-old student at the Santa Illa school, which has 160 pupils aged between three and 17. "Some of the teachers were having panic attacks while a number of the kids were crying."

A spokesperson for the Social Security Ministry said the school had received "plenty of prior warnings" about the issue.

Odd that the authorities seem unwilling or unable to take similar action against the public state schools who are seemingly allowed to run up even higher levels of debt unchecked.