An internal administrative report to the Ministry of National Education acknowledges that “the institution has not always stood in solidarity” with Caroline Grandjean, the teacher who took her own life in the Cantal in September 2025 after being the target of a lesbophobic smear.
Nearly six months after the suicide of Caroline Grandjean-Paccoud, the Ministry of National Education releases the conclusions of its administrative inquiry. On September 1, 2025, the 42-year-old teacher took her own life after having been the target, between late 2023 and summer 2024, of anonymous homophobic tags and messages in the school she led in Moussages, a village in the Cantal. Opened from the outset, the judicial investigation had to be closed without action in spring 2025 “in the absence of new facts”, according to the words of the prosecutor. This Friday, February 6, the Ministry of National Education announced the conclusions of the administrative inspection report it had commissioned.
If the ministry refuses to release the document to the press, the summary that has been delivered points to “the feeling experienced by the teacher that the institution did not always stand in solidarity with her in the face of conflicts with certain parents”. In our long investigation published in the current issue of têtu·, we discussed these difficulties as well as the sense of injustice experienced by the teacher in light of her superiors’ reactions. The report acknowledges this: “The investigation notably highlights (…) administrative decisions experienced as injustices, for example with regard to the refusal to award a point bonus tied to her disability (RQTH) for her mobility”, continues the Ministry of Education.
Caroline Grandjean Lacked Support
Indeed, in the spring of 2025, the teacher, who had been on sick leave for several months and was recognized as a disabled worker, requested to be assigned to another establishment, but vacancies were scarce in this rural department. “This refusal, based on a strict reading of the regulations, deprived Mrs. Grandjean of a form of recognition and institutional support that she needed at that moment“, acknowledges the inspection report, which from this perspective admits an “institutional failure”.
During the same period, the academy inspector even filed a complaint against a comic book in which Caroline Grandjean testified about her misfortune: within this framework she obtained the academy’s functional protection, i.e., the Ministry of National Education covering her legal costs. Asked by têtu· about this point, the ministry did not provide any clarification.
Complaint for Harassment
“In light of these conclusions, and in accordance with the mission’s recommendations, the report continues, the ministry will reinforce the training of its executives in handling situations of psychological distress.” And it develops this promise: “The objective is to ensure that in the future, our HR processes are not merely regulatory, but handled with the full humanity and discernment required.”
Christine Grandjean-Paccoud, Caroline’s widow, quickly reacted to these announcements, telling Agence France-Presse (AFP) of a “sense of satisfaction that the Ministry of National Education acknowledges a failure”. She nevertheless regrets that “some officials” were “not named in the report”. And she affirms: “Of course there are people responsible, but we will not give up. My lawyer will handle the criminal case so that they are recognized and there is a trial.” She has filed a complaint for “harassment” against the Ministry of National Education on this basis.
