History of CEIP La Luz is the work in which Patricio Hernández Díaz, former director of a center considered unique in Canary Islands for its characteristics, summarizes the 34 years of existence of a public center, which in 1985 took over from the unitary school and the Aspronte special education center, in La Montaña. In its 106 pages, the book It includes images, situates the neighborhood of La Luz in the year the school was created, the center project, the special education classrooms and the Enclave classrooms, the theme of the continuous day and the implementation of the Logse, as well as anecdotes.
Until he retired in 2019, the author, Patricio Hernández, served 28 years as a teacher, one as a secretary and 26 as a director. In the presentation, he stressed that “everything that is related in this work corresponds to objective data and with the influence of having participated professionally in many of the moments that are described.”
The mayor, Francisco Linares, expressed his satisfaction with this publication, which he defined as “rigorous and exemplary work” about a center whose author, “during his time as director, put the Canary Islands on the school map, and continues to be a benchmark”.
The book was presented by Manuel de los Reyes Sánchez, a graduate in Geography and History, Law and Education Sciences, who, in addition to detailing the most significant data on the History of CEIP La Luz, referred to the support that the La Orotava City Council provides to educational centers. “Education contains a treasure that when exposed, as is the case with this book by Patricio Hernández Díaz, can and should be further enhanced,” he stressed.
The history
The first record on the construction of a new educational center in the neighborhood of La Luz is the plenary agreement of the City Council of La Orotava, dated July 27, 1978 and by way of urgency. He referred to the purchase of 23,200 square meters, from Laura Salazar and Benítez de Lugo, to build a special education school and another for EGB. The sale was made before a notary in 1980, for 10,439,559 peseta (62,743 euros). In the end, they built only the school and not the special education center.
In the work of Patricio Hernández, it is stated that it was in the 1985-86 school year when the ordinary preschool education center, EGB, and three special education classrooms began to function, with students from the extinct Aspronte, among others.
In response to a claim made by the families to the Common Representative in 1989, the General Directorate for Educational Promotion of the Government of the Canary Islands He reports that he does not know why the special education center in the center of La Luz was not built. The reality of his students, severe and deep levels, demanded it, despite the fact that his means and staff were above the average of the resources of a school with Therapeutic Pedagogy classrooms.
The work of Hernández Díaz reflects that The CEIP La Luz lived several stages with conflicts triggered by various reasons in which special education classrooms have a notable role.
The work presented by the former director highlights the benefits that the school brings to the community. Among them, its role as a channel to help learn and better accept diversity, tolerance, solidarity and education for coexistence and peace as the main values of educational inclusion.
