Jean Robert acclaimed as new CQSB chair
Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initative reporter
editor@qctonline.com
Before Jean Robert started school, his parents would take him to a daycare centre on Chemin St-Louis. The building which housed the daycare is now the home of the Central Québec School Board, where Robert is the outgoing vice-chair of the Council of Commissioners. He’ll be sworn in as chair in November, in what he calls an “interesting full circle moment.”
Robert has been involved with Quebec’s English-language education system for most of his life. He attended elementary and high school in English in the region – at the time, what is now CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence also offered high school programs. After completing his university studies in the U.S. and at Université Laval in educational psychology, he evaluated students and “did some counselling” for the regional Protestant school board, before school boards were reorganized along linguistic lines. He then took a job at St. Lawrence, where he worked for nearly 35 years. “I went to St. Lawrence, and then I ended up as campus director – it’s interesting, going full circle in that area too,” he recalled. “I did my university studies in French and English, but as for elementary and high school, it was all in English.”
He remained active in the community after retiring; he was named chair of the National Battlefields Commission, the Jeffery Hale Foundation and Jeffery Hale Community Partners, and a senior advisor at McGill University, while continuing to serve as vice-chair of the CQSB Council of Commissioners. He has served on the Council of Commissioners for 26 years – as long as the board has existed in its current form.
Robert said his experience in the English school system, as a student, a graduate and a board member, showed him the importance of English public schools for the community. “Schools are the central part of our communities, unlike in the French system. When we have a school in Thetford Mines, for example, that is the community. The English community is there. Everything around the community takes place at the school very often, whether it’s plays, athletic activities, parents’ meetings or whatever. The schools for the English population are really the centre of the community.”
Over the years, he has seen English schools evolve to adapt to the changing needs of the student body, placing more emphasis on bilingualism and extracurricular and specialized programs to prepare students for the local labour market and win over families who might otherwise choose French public or private schools for their children.
As incoming board chair, Robert’s top priorities will be overseeing the consolidated high school project – “a major event for the English-speaking population of Quebec City” – and upgrades to several elementary schools in the greater Quebec City region and at the northern reaches of the board’s vast territory in Schefferville and Chibougamau. Another major priority in the current challenging political climate is “continuing to work with the government to show the importance of English education in Quebec” and to advocate for the importance of elected school boards, which were replaced with service centres in 2022 – English school boards are still in place pending the outcome of a court challenge.
“We play an extremely important role in the province of Quebec, and … people have to realize that. We have to work with the government to con- vince them of that and to show them really clear examples of some of the wonderful things our students are doing,” Robert said.
“We [school commission- ers] are voted in by our community,” he added. “When I’m not happy with a government decision, I have no problem going to a politician and saying, ‘What you’re doing makes no sense.’ That would be harder if I was appointed by that same person.”
Robert and incoming commissioners David Eden, Ian O’Gallagher, André Gosselin, Cameron Lavallée, Debbie Cornforth, Shirley Picknell, Jo Visser, Karine Gauthier, Chantal Guay, Jo-Ann Toulouse and Debbie Ford-Caron were all acclaimed. For Robert, the fact that there were no competitive races and most serving commissioners chose to stay on means that “the population are very satisfied with the services they have.” He invited people with questions, concerns or suggestions for the school board to attend the board’s monthly meetings, either in person or online.