The grouped rural center (CRA) the pine … The 2025-2026 course, as resolved by the General Directorate of Centers and Infrastructure of the Ministry of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León. The educational community, the families and the beneficiary peoples have received the news with joy, since they have been claiming a service that they consider essential to have guaranteed, on the one hand, family conciliation, and on the other, the access of schoolchildren to adequate diet.
The mayor of Navas de Oro, Raúl Vela, recalls that the achievement combines the joint effort of the school, the AMPA, the City Council and the pressure of the community. “The City Council has not yet received the official notification, but we are working on the project,” says Vela, who estimates the launch of the dining room for next October after a process that includes rehabilitation works, enrollment of students and catering award.
The CRA El Pinar, which welcomes some 80 children’s and primary schoolchildren in Navas de Oro – and about 120 if those from the towns of Samboal and Narros are included – lacks the school dining room since the 1970s, when the service disappeared after having worked for decades, recalls the mayor himself. The lack of such a necessary resource forces many families to go to grandparents or other solutions to pick up children at noon, a circumstance that plays against conciliation in a rural municipality such as Navas de Oro, with about 1,300 inhabitants.
The claim of the school dining room has taken strength in recent years, promoted by the AMPA Friends of the School, the management team of the College and the Navas de Oro City Council. The Junta de Castilla y León denied an initial application, which generated frustration and even mobilizations. «They denied us in July last year, without margin to negotiate. They claimed that a project of the architect was missing or that only dining rooms with centers with transported students are authorized, but this does not appear in the regulations. In fact, there are schools without transported students who have dining service in several parts of the province, starting with the capital. They were excuses, ”laments the mayor. However, the pressure continued with protest concentrations that have had the support of other municipalities.
The turning point has arrived this year, after the appeal that the direction of the CRA presented and the firm commitment of the City Council to finance the necessary works. The resolution of the Board, published on April 25, authorizes the dining room, which will operate under the “cold line” model, that is, with food externally prepared and delivered to the center. «It is the current standard for new dining rooms. Those who still have a cook pass to the cold line when it retires, ”explains Vela.
The City Council will condition the dining room in the school spaces that until fifty years ago housed the same service. «The old kitchen became a room for physical education material, and the dining room was divided into two classrooms, one for music and one for psychomotor skills. Now we are going to tear down the wall that separated the dining room and create two differentiated spaces for children and primary, in addition to renewing the kitchen, installing some toilets and ticket offices, and enabling direct access from the street so as not to interfere with classes ».
The service may be operational in October after enrollment, aid application and catering organization
To do this, the City Council has budgeted 21,526 euros. The works include tiles with health curvature, new carpentry and doors adapted to health regulations. «They are works that the Board should pay, but in our eagerness for schoolchildren to have a dining room, we assume it. It is an investment that is worth it, ”says the councilor. The work will begin once the school year is finished, to take advantage of the summer. The Provincial Directorate of Education will contribute the equipment.
The service will also allow students to access the Board’s dining scholarships. According to a study by AMPA itself, 70% of the families of CRA schoolchildren would be interested in using the dining room, continued or sporadically. «Last year, about fifty families wanted daily use. We estimate that there is a similar demand, ”says Raúl Vela. According to the forecasts handled by the City Council, the service may be operational in October, after enrollment, the request for aid and the organization of catering. The CRA dining room will return a lost service decades ago and reinforce the role of school as a pillar of community life in Navas de Oro.
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