Historic: New combined English high school gets green light
Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
“For the anglophone population in Quebec, this is historic.”
Jean Robert, chairperson of the council of commissioners for the Central Québec School Board (CQSB), had just received a letter from Education Minister Bernard Drainville, authorizing the board to proceed with a call for tenders to build a brand new English high school to replace the antiquated buildings housing Quebec High School and St. Patrick’s High School.
The letter, dated July 23, is the latest and arguably the most important step in a process dating back to early 2017, when members of parents’ committees for both schools joined forces to push for a new combined school.
While there had been some troubling uncertainty in recent months as to whether the project – although well advanced in the planning and design phases and budgeted at “well over $200 million” – would be approved due to government spending re- strictions, Robert was convinced it would get the green light.
“I mean, it really is unbelievable. A new school in a time when there are budgetary concerns,” Robert said. “But the government believes in the fact that there is a need for a new modern school. It is really remarkable. It’s wonderful.”
He said, “I can only imagine how thrilled some of the future students and teachers and administrators will be.”
The new school, as presented at consultation sessions in fall 2022 with parents and other interested parties, will be a four-storey complex, organized into five learning zones with 40 classrooms, four gyms, eight art classrooms and seven science classrooms. There will also be ample outdoor sports and activity surfaces.
It will be designed to accommodate a maximum of 1,400 students, in anticipation of growing student populations at the two downtown high schools as well as Dollard-des-Ormeaux School in Shannon, whose secondary section would be closed and students transferred to the new facility.
The new school will be built on the site of the now-abandoned St. Vincent Elementary School on Avenue Wolfe, behind the Boul. Laurier commercial strip. It would be in close proximity to the city’s proposed tramway line.
When St. Vincent closed in spring 2024, students were relocated for the fall term to the brand new New Liverpool Elementary School in Lévis or to other CQSB schools on the North Shore.
Robert said according to the architects’ plan, construction could begin on the new building at the same time as the old one is being demolished.
Now that the board has the minister’s approval of the call for tenders, Robert said, “Every- thing is ready. We just have to push the button and the whole procedure starts.” The project will be managed by the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), which handles major government construction projects.
Although the target date for the opening of the new school is fall 2028, Robert said, “The truth is we’ll only really know about details and so on once we get the results from the tenders,” which could be received and analyzed by September or October of this year.
He said there is likely no issue concerning soil contamination, although it is known the St. Vincent building has asbestos insulation, so demolition will be more methodical and hence more costly.
Once construction actually begins, the expected construction period would be two years. Robert said that although the school building is a relatively large one, it is a standard project and could interest many general contractors. He said the “timing is good” to get such a project off the ground.
A complication to the choice of the St. Vincent site is that it required additional land to accommodate the size of school desired. Three separate transactions involving the federal government, the Ville de Québec and the Centre des services scolaire des Découvreurs needed to be resolved. Part of the deal with the city is an agreement that local residents will have access to school facilities such as gymnasiums and sports fields.
Robert, the former director of CEGEP Champlain-St. Law- rence, who spearheaded the amphitheatre expansion there, drew a comparison with the new high school project. “We’re always kind of shy [about asking for things from the government], but the fact is that the English community deserved a new school and deserves something that we can be proud of and we’re certainly going to be proud of this one.”