The Rascanya- Antonio Cañuelo High School
Date: Septiembre de 2005
Address: Av. dels Germans Machado, 9
Architects:
In 2003, the Ferrer i Guàrdia High School had been in full operation for more than ten years. Benimaclet was still growing, in the midst of the construction bubble, and the estimates of further growth caused alarm, since one could foresee that there would be a lack of schools for secondary education of all types.
For this reason, once more a coordinating committee was formed to work for a new high school. Its members were the Neighbourhood Association of Benimaclet, the Neighbourhood Women´s Association, the Association of Businessmen and the parents´ associations of the schools of the barrio.
The campaign machinery was launched: collection of signatures, information meetings in the Neighbourhood Association premises and in the schools, demonstrations, meetings with the regional government. The struggles for the Ferrer i Guàrdia High School and for the Municipal School had lasted for many years, but this time around the construction of the new high school was decided on after just a little over a year.
The coordinating committee proposed at first that the new school should be built on the two plots of land (of approximately 11 000 m2 and 4800 m2), reserved for educational purposes in the city plan and located in the area called PAI “BENIMACLET ESTE.” (PAI is short for Programa de Actuación Integrada, integrated action program.) These lots were located between the Jesuit Patronato School and the horchata bar “Els Sariers.” But in the end, seeing that nothing was happening with the PAI and that it would take a long time for this land to be handed over to the City Hall, another lot was chosen: the one situated by Alfahuir Avenue, in the Orriols PAI, which had just been finished. It, too, had been reserved for educational purposes.
When the building was finished, the school was named Rascanya High School, in honour of the barrio where it was geographically placed. It started operating in September 2005. But in August of that year, Antonio Cañuelo had died. He was a Benimaclet resident and had been an active member of the neighbourhood movement for more than twenty years. At the time of his death, he sat on the board of the Neighbourhood Association of Benimaclet and was President of the Federation of Neighbourhood Assocations of Valencia. He had also taken active part in the coordinating committee for the new high school, and he deserved some recognition and tribute for all his work for the barrio. Therefore the Neighbourhood Association proposed that the new school should carry his name, too. After a few misunderstandings, the association finally obtained the necessary support so that the school would be called Rascanya – Antonio Cañuelo High School. This is a source of pride for the whole neighbourhood movement and above all for the persons who worked and had the honour to struggle side by side with Antonio Cañuelo.
