Bernard Drainville

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

A Montreal school finds itself in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Eleven teachers from Bedford Elementary School are under investigation after reports surfaced of psychological and physical abuse. At a news conference responding to the allegations, Education Minister Bernard Drainville enumerated some of the incidents that his ministry will be looking into.

“Refusing to recognize that autism exists, refusing to teach sexual education or science, having a student lose consciousness and instead of helping, you start praying?”

Other allegations include bullying, physical and psychological abuse, yelling, pushing, intimidation, and other forms of discipline that would seem to be of an older era, and not acceptable today.

The French public school in Côte des Neiges falls under the purview of the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM). Most of the students come from the area’s cultural communities.

Drainville said that the interests and needs of the students must always take precedence. The reports show that Bedford School is not living up to that expectation. The ministry is sending two representatives to the school charged with re-establishing an environment conducive to the students’ needs and safety.

Aside from the 11 teachers at Bedford, the Education Ministry is looking into three other schools within the CSSDM: Bienville, Saint-Pascal-Baylong, and La Voie High School.

Drainville confirmed that these kinds of allegations go back to the 2016-17 school year. He said in an interview that it is incomprehensible that concerns had not been raised before. n