School

T he 27. Samba festival was in a way also a premiere: for the first time christof pilarzyk was no longer part of the organizing team. The co-founder withdrew for health reasons and was not even present at the 2018 festival. "I couldn't handle it, it's all still too emotional", he had already explained in advance. While he had therefore fled to lower bavaria for the weekend, the sole responsibility now rested on rolf beyersdorf.

Beyersdorf takes it easy

He took everything very casually as usual. "We are a rough samba team", beyersdorf said and meant with that: we are a rough samba family that sticks together and always finds a solution when problems arise. No sooner said than done: on samba saturday there was a lot of excitement. The members of the colombian group aainjaa were angry and planned to leave early. What had happened? "They didn't know that they would need sleeping mats and sleeping bags to spend the night in one of our school quarters", tells rolf beyersdorf. And they did not have anything like that with them. But without these utensils, sleep is out of the question, so the sudamerican sambistas looked for a hotel – far away from coburg, and with the idea of going home on saturday anyway. "That was a communication problem, says rolf beyersdorf. When the organizers heard about the problem, the strong members of the "samba family" immediately took action a. "We were able to organize tens of covers and documents through the red cross", rolf beyersdorf "just one call is enough, and that's what i've come to love about samba in coburg: so many people help to make the festival a success." In the concrete case this meant: the colombians moved into their quarters in a school on saturday with the help of the red cross utensils – and already in the afternoon they had an acclaimed performance at the festival.
Julia prillwitz also had a problem on saturday. The 42-year-old brazilian, who caused a furor with her book about her life as a transsexual woman, came to the festival spontaneously. But where should she sleep? It's a good thing that the landhotel steiner in grobheirath also belongs to the samba family. There julia prillwitz could still be accommodated.

Smartphones move from jacket pockets to hands to take videos. Tourists stop in amazement, the saturday stroll has to wait a bit: at 13 degrees and bright sunshine – in the middle of february mind you – more than 1000 people (the police report 1000, some participants estimate up to 1500) set off from bamberger bahnhof to declare war on climate change and carry this message into the heart of the city.

If there really is a weather god, he certainly has a sense of humor. Under the title "not with us! Climate demo for people of all ages" on this afternoon, it is not only the schoolchildren who are on the road, but also those who have already arrived on the 1. February with "fridays for future" have pointed out what they see as the inadequate state of german climate policy. This time also the adults are invited together with organizations and parties, which can warm up for the climate protection. Following the example of the early anti-nuclear movement in the federal republic of germany, the demonstrators are chanting "resist, resist, resist"! Against lignite here in the country!" The coal phase-out is only one of many topics that come up for discussion.

Both the youth welfare office and the don bosco school in stappenbach have noticed a significant increase in the number of children with significant emotional and social needs in the preschool and early childhood classes. This cannot be adequately addressed in the bamberg region with the current school and after-school support systems. This was reported in the youngest meeting of the youth welfare committee in the district council. At the bartolomeo garelli school in bamberg, a demand center for emotional and social development, no first and second classes have been formed so far, so there is no special school offer for children of this age.

As a result, escalations often occur in everyday school life, which increasingly lead to unacceptable stress for the children concerned, their schoolmates and teachers. According to the status as of january 2020, 19 children in the preschool area and in the diagnosis and challenge classes of the don bosco school have an increased need for emotional-social development, in addition to ten children in kindergarten and elementary schools supported by mobile services. However, of these children, only 14 receive a youth welfare check, as these are carried out on a voluntary basis and are often not well accepted by the parents or guardians. This is the starting point for the first two grades of the "stutz- und forderklasse" (SFK), in which the school program and a youth welfare program can be directly combined.

Political satire is so entertaining. 2500 visitors filled the sold-out courtyard of the rotenhan renaissance building. All the spectators went home enthusiastic after more than two and a half hours. Whether they were thinking about the messages they had just been presented with – as a joke and wrapped up in austrian schmah?

There was an impressive mirror held up: against nationalism, xenophobia, ignorance, nuclear power, macho behavior, church submission, striving for power, oppression – and all this wrapped up in a funeral service, as the EAV is being carried to the grave, as it is the (for now) last farewell tour of the whimsical alpine yodel, which since the beginning of the year for sold-out concerts in the entire german-speaking area provides.