Central Québec School Board

Historic: New combined English high school gets green light

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

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.”

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School board reform was spark for new combined English high school

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

School board reform was spark for new combined English high school

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The green light for the construction of a new English secondary school from Education Minister Bernard Drainville, to quote Winston Churchill, marks “the end of the beginning” of a journey that dates back nearly 30 years.

Quoting Churchill may be appropriate in that he was British prime minister in 1941, when Quebec High School first opened its doors. St. Patrick’s High School, which had its start in the Old City in 1843, has been in its current building since 1918, with an expansion in 1957.

The basic motivation for the project to ditch the two aging schools located within a few blocks of each other in the Montcalm district – once the heart of a thriving anglophone community – dates back to 1997, when confessional school boards were replaced with language-based boards.

St. Patrick’s, previously with the Catholic school system, became a non-denominational school, though keeping some of its religious heritage, under the newly created Central Québec School Board (CQSB).

While there were proposals to integrate or rationalize programs between the two schools, they were inevitably foiled by the then-passionate rivalry between the partisans of the St. Pat’s Fighting Irish and the Quebec High School (QHS) Blazers.

That changed in early 2017, when frustrated parents from both schools got together and asked the question, “Where do you see our high schools in 50 years?”

Led by St. Pat’s rep Ian O’Gallagher and Jean-Luc Trahan from QHS, the parents told the board the schools were ready to put aside their rivalry to gain a modern school that could compete for students with the schools in the well- resourced French system.

A presentation the group prepared to make the case for a new school cited examples of how much more the modern high schools in the French system could offer students compared to the antiquated English schools.

A bottom-line concern was that many parents whose children attended English elementary schools were choosing to send them to French high schools because of the higher- quality facilities and programs.

The presentation said, “Between Grade 6 and Secondary I, the CQSB loses 10 to 20 per cent of eligible students to French private and public schools.”

Stephen Burke, then chair of the CQSB council of commissioners, seized the initiative to push forward what was called The Project. The board got lucky in that, by sheer serendipity, the minister of education at the time was Liberal Sébastien Proulx, in whose Jean-Talon riding the new school would be built.

Not only did Proulx grasp the need for a new English high school, he signed off on a brand new English elementary school in Lévis, which opened last year – he was invited to the ribbon-cutting. That move made the St. Vincent property on Avenue Wolfe available for the new high school.

Proulx stepped down in 2019 and Joëlle Boutin won the rid- ing in a byelection for the Coalition Avenir Québec. Boutin herself stepped down in 2023, and the riding is now held by Pascal Paradis of the Parti Québécois.

Current CQSB chairperson Jean Robert, who succeeded Burke last fall, said the strong support from the city’s English- speaking community was an important factor in moving the project forward. A series of consultations in the fall of 2022 bolstered the board’s belief in the new school.

Razvan Petre, the president of Voice of English-speaking Québec (VEQ), said in an email to the QCT: “We are extremely happy to learn that the project has finally received the green light to commence the bidding process. This is a very exciting project for our youth and our community. There is no doubt that this modern new building will contribute to our community’s vitality.”

If all goes according to plan and construction can be completed in the anticipated two years, the new school – yet to be named – would welcome the first students in fall 2028.

That means students enter- ing Secondary I at St. Pat’s and QHS this September would begin their Secondary IV at a brand-new, state-of-the-art English high school, as classmates, not rivals.

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School boards to seek injunction against spending restrictions

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School boards to seek injunction against spending restrictions

Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The organization representing Quebec’s nine English school boards may take the Quebec govern- ment to court if it doesn’t loosen restrictions on how the boards can allocate funding.

Earlier this summer, the Quebec government announced $570 million in across-the-board cuts to fund- ing for schools. On July 19, amid a growing public outcry, Education Minister Bernard Drainville announced that the government would reallocate $540 million to be distributed among French-language school service centres, English boards and eligible private schools, on the condition that the institutions “show that efforts are being made to reduce administrative costs, and ensure the money goes to student services only.” School boards have been told they cannot dip into surplus funds or run budget deficits in order to further cushion the impact of the cuts.

“It is misleading when the government announces that the cuts are being walked back,” Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) president Joe Ortona told the QCT. “They maintained the cuts and then said, ‘We’ll put new money into education, but in order for you to be eligible for this money, there are hurdles in place that are difficult for school boards to meet.’ The government has been clear that we’re not allowed to use our own surplus money which we have accumulated through our own careful management … which is absurd.”

QESBA intends to mandate law firm Power Law to “challenge the validity” of the budgetary restrictions and request an injunction blocking their application. The Central Québec School Board (CQSB) has passed a resolution supporting QESBA’s decision.

QESBA and its nine member boards, including the CQSB, are currently in a drawn-out court battle with the Quebec government over Bill 40, the 2020 law which transformed French-language school boards into government-run service centres; if fully applied to English boards, it would legislate them out of existence. In April of this year, a Quebec appeals court panel upheld an earlier Superior Court ruling that found that abolishing elected school boards and replacing them with service centres would infringe on the English-speaking community’s Charter right to manage its own schools. Ortona and Jean Robert, the chair of the CQSB Council of Commissioners, argue that the legal precedent in that case — over which the Quebec government intends to appeal to the Supreme Court — strengthens the school boards’ case for an injunction blocking spending restrictions.

“If we accept [these restrictions], we are accepting that we don’t have a say in what happens in our schools,” Robert said. “The fact that there were adjustments [to the cuts initially announced] doesn’t change our resolve to say that the Constitution protects us.”

Ortona said there has been no communication or collaboration from Drainville’s office regarding the school boards’ concerns. “We have made it very clear that these cuts with the hurdles and parameters are unconstitutional and a violation of the Bill 40 judgment that says the government cannot micromanage our finances,” said Ortona. “He has not acknowledged these letters – we have received no reply of any kind. Their mind is made up – they have made it clear that they are not allowing us to use surplus money. We have been clear that that is unconstitutional.”

Ortona said the most recent cuts would still require boards to make difficult decisions about “sports programs, music programs, child psychologists, speech therapists, childcare workers, cutting teacher positions and overcrowding classrooms.”

Robert said CQSB personnel are still figuring out how the cuts may affect services. “You could not ask for a worse time for us to redo all of this work,” he said. “If we had access to our surplus, we would say we’ll give ourselves time to make the changes next year, but now we’re being asked to make changes [for a second time] while everyone is on holiday … and that is unreasonable.”

Education Ministry spokesperson Bryan St-Louis said the financial statements of school  school boards and service centres have been consolidated with those of the government. Consequently, “any surplus or deficit incurred by a school board affects the government’s financial position. ”

“The [previous] surplus appropriation rule was intended to allow a service centre or board to run a deficit up to the permitted appropriation limit, without having to apply to the ministry,” he explained. “For the 2025-2026 school year, it was decided to review the appropriation rule in order to limit the increase in education portfolio spending, in line with the budgetary context.”

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Government slashes funding to school boards, service centres

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Government slashes funding to school boards, service centres

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Quebec’s English school boards reacted with alarm and frustration after the Ministry of Education imposed at least $510 million in across-the-board cuts to the public school system. Education Minister Bernard Drainville told reporters last week that the ministry’s expenses have grown by seven per cent per year since 2018, a rate he called “unsustainable.” Next school year’s increase has been capped at 1.8 per cent – below the rate of inflation – as part of a wider effort by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government to rein in the growing deficit.

“The direction I have given to school service centres is to make this money work better, to be more efficient, to respect budgets without touching student services, or without touching them as much as possible,” Drainville said.

“School boards and service centres across the province were informed [June 12] that a staggering $510 million in additional cuts would be expected throughout the Quebec education system, on top of the $200 million already slashed earlier this school year,” the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) said in a statement. “These new cuts are expected to take effect in July, allowing only one day of consultation for school boards and service centres to react.”

“This government is expecting us to make these astronomical cuts on the backs of our students, which is completely unacceptable,” said QESBA president Joe Ortona. “The government has given school boards just 24 hours to respond to what can only be described as a direct assault on the viability of our public education system. This financial crisis was not created by school boards, and we will not allow our school system’s integrity to be sacrificed to solve this government’s deficit.”

Jean Robert is the chair of the council of commissioners of the Central Québec School Board (CQSB), which oversees English-language public schools in the Quebec City region, Mauricie, Saguenay and parts of northern Quebec. On June 20, he estimated the board would have to cut about $6 million from its budget. That was later revised downward to around $3 million, but the board was told it could not run a deficit or dip into its surplus. Robert said officials were still looking at ways to tackle the problem.

Robert expressed frustration at the ministry’s decision to announce the cuts in mid-June, after school boards had confirmed staff contracts for the coming year. “Because of the collective agreements, we need to do our staffing for September by June 1,” he said. “Had we been given a little more time, we would have been able to make adjustments like having one class of 34 [students] instead of two classes of 17, but we can’t do that at this point. … Why did they decide, at the last minute and without consultation, that they were going to cut?”

Education ministry spokesperson Bryan St-Louis said the board had been asked to “optimize its expenses” by eliminating $2.37 million in spending. He said boards had been informed of the cuts as soon as information was available.

Robert told the QCT boards would normally dip into their surpluses to absorb the impact of the cuts. The CQSB “does have a surplus … and it’s there for unforeseen circumstances, but now we’re being told we can’t use it.” He said the restriction on the use of surplus funds was contrary to the spirit of a recent Superior Court ruling affirming the English-speaking community’s right to govern its own schools. (Last month, the Quebec government announced its intention to apply for leave to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.)

Robert said the ministry could limit the impact of the cuts by allowing boards to use surplus funds or spread the cuts out over several years. “We’re hopeful that the government will see how this will impact student learning, and then we will have to look at whatever options are available.”

The QCT contacted Drainville’s office for comment but did not receive a response before press time.

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Quebec applies to appeal Bill 40 decision to Supreme Court

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Quebec applies to appeal Bill 40 decision to Supreme Court

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Quebec’s English-language school boards are preparing to defend their continued existence before the Supreme Court of Canada. On May 30, multiple sources confirmed that the Quebec government planned to request leave to appeal a ruling in support of the school boards to the country’s highest court.

In February 2020, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government passed Bill 40, which replaced elected school boards in both the francophone and anglophone sectors with government-run service centres overseen by volunteer boards with limited power. At the time, English boards argued the new law infringed on the English- speaking community’s right to control its education system, afforded to official-language minority communities in the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) took the government to court, obtaining first an injunction which suspended the law’s application to English boards, then a ruling by a Superior Court judge which found the law did infringe on the community’s charter rights. The government appealed that decision, and in April of this year, an appeals court panel essentially upheld the Superior Court ruling. At the time, QESBA and its member boards hoped the government would accept the ruling and lay the groundwork for a new working relationship with school boards. That hasn’t happened.

The association said its members were “deeply disappointed” by the government’s decision to appeal.

“We were hopeful that the government would accept the unanimous ruling of the Court of Appeal and finally respect the rights of the English-speaking community,” said QESBA president Joe Ortona. “At a time when Quebec faces serious financial pressures, it is disappointing to see public funds used to continue a legal battle that so clearly infringes on the rights of minority communities.”

“As I said at the time, [the Appeals Court ruling] was a really wonderful decision for the English boards – there was a recognition that the Constitution gave us the right to govern our schools,” said Jean Robert, chair of the Council of Commissioners of the Central Québec School Board (CQSB), the QESBA member board which oversees English-language public schools in the Quebec City region and on the South Shore as well as in Mauricie, Saguenay and large swaths of northern Quebec. “The environment is such that I wasn’t surprised [an appeal was made] … but we were really hopeful that at the end of the day, the government would see that the decision was clear.

“I don’t know the timeline, but we’re talking about years of time and expenses and uncertainty,” he added. “We are convinced we will win – we have the two judgments in our favour, the last one was unanimous and they supported us on nearly every point.”

Robert told the QCT school boards would have to “rely on the generosity of the community” to continue the court challenge.

“They [the government] have all the legal resources in the world, and in our case, we’ll have to do fundraising for this,” he said. “When you go to the Supreme Court, you’re talking about over $1 million in expenses. The government has a slew of lawyers at their disposal, but we have to hire our own lawyers and do fundraising.”

Robert said representatives of QESBA member boards would meet on June 2 to plan next steps. “We will be looking at potential donors in the community, parents and graduates who are ready to donate,” he said. “We always said we didn’t want to use money that has been set aside for services to students. There have been some generous donors for the last Bill 40 case, but we can’t always [turn] to the same people … and the money has to come from somewhere.”

In the coming weeks, “our role will be to inform people on what this really means – it is about being the master of what we do,” Robert said. “It is a slippery slope to having our schools potentially become wings of the francophone system … we will continue to fight this with everything we can.”

The Quebec government does not generally comment on ongoing court cases.

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Avenir St. Patrick consults the English-speaking Community

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Avenir St. Patrick consults the English-speaking community

Cassandra Kerwin

cassandra@qctonline.com

As the the Central Québec School Board (CQSB) moves ahead with plans to build a single consolidated English high school in Quebec City, members of the English-speaking community and residents of the sur- rounding neighbourhoods are curious about the future of the buildings currently housing Quebec High School (QHS) and St. Patrick’s High School (SPHS) and the land they occupy. On April 30, Avenir St. Patrick invited the English-speaking community to a consultation at the Centre culture et environnement Frédéric-Back to discuss the future of the SPHS property.

Among the 20 or so attendees were current and former SPHS teachers, parents, alumni, members of the Irish community, representatives of local nonprofits, residents and sports enthusiasts. In table discussions, each person gave their opinion, thoughts and ideas for the site. The discussions focused on three main possibilities: non-profit and privately-owned co-operative housing, a community centre and a green space.

For many house hunters and entrepreneurs, Montcalm is a sought-after neighbourhood, with SPHS at its heart. If and when the land and building are sold, members of the local Irish community worry they may lose a major piece of their historical identity and heritage. The use of the property dates back to the 1830s, when it was St. Patrick’s Cemetery, until the cemetery was moved to Sillery to make room for the new school in 1916. With such deep roots, they want to continue to use the space and land, and for it to represent them, which includes conducting activities in English.

The building has two major parts: the school and the gym. The latter is not as easily transformed into housing and requires more engineering and planning. This integrates into existing plans for a community hub with a performance hall and a multipurpose space. As for the outdoor green space, local residents said they appreciate it, and community sports clubs use the soccer field for Gaelic football and hurling, among other sports.

Much of the discussion at the meeting was speculative because the land and building are not for sale at the moment. All that is certain is the school’s eventual move to the new location in Sainte-Foy, the second move in its long history, slated for 2028. Backers of the “super- school” project say it is necessary to allow the school board to sell off the aging high school buildings, stimulate enrolment and offer CQSB students educational opportunities and options similar to their counterparts at local French-language schools.

Avenir St. Patrick indicated that another meeting would be planned in the near future, probably in French, to reach more community members. The group would like to present solid plans to the city before 2028.

Keep an eye on the Avenir St. Patrick Facebook page for further information.

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Elementary school students celebrate 20 years of PAF at Palais Montcalm

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Elementary school students celebrate 20 years of PAF at Palais Montcalm

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

The Central Québec School Board (CQSB) is celebrating an impressive milestone this year: the 20th anniversary of the Performing Arts Festival, better known as PAF. Over the years, the festival has grown from drama festivals in different schools to a major annual event for 18 schools, featuring an array of workshops and student performances, with separate divisions for elementary and high schools.

On April 9, about 250 elementary school students from across the province assembled at the Palais Montcalm for a day of artistic workshops and a climactic PAF show. “We are very proud of our school board. We have staff, students, parents and supporters here. The message I want to share with the students is that I hope they are having fun and that they are making friends with students from our schools in different cities,” said the recently named chairperson of the CQSB council of commissioners, Jean Robert. “It is something special for me to be standing here today, because when I was a student at St. Stephen’s Elementary School, I once performed on this very stage. We had a concert at the Palais Montcalm. Mind you, it was not as nice as we see it today. It is a funny full circle.” That concert was decades before the first PAF, highlighting the importance of art in education in the English-speaking community.

Robert was not the only nostalgic person at the 20th edition. Over the years, past participants have returned as teachers, workshop leaders and parents of current participants. The shared stories and the strong desire of the students to participate each year have helped the festival grow in popularity. Certain workshops like photography were fully booked. Other workshops included dance, animation, manga, wax art, DJ skills, singing and improvisation.

“The students really do love PAF. Once it is over and when the new school year starts, they ask their teachers if they are going to PAF this year. They start thinking about their acts and preparing them,” said CQSB arts education consultant Bronwen Hughes. “It really is varied. Students put on musical shows, plays, dances, singing …”

Once again, the students’ hard work, creativity and talent amazed the audience. The show opened with Holland Elementary School students giving a rocking performance of 1970s hits: “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver, “Dancing Queen” by ABBA, “YMCA” by The Village People, and “We Will Rock You” by Queen. The drums were amazing for the last song.

From that point on, it was just one great performance after another. Portneuf Elementary School gave “The Greatest Show” with their interpretation of the hit song from the musical The Greatest Showman. A few acts later, Ste-Foy Elementary School thought outside the box by presenting a cinematic production they made at their school. Everest Elementary School gave an outstanding première performance with a cheerleading act. Ste-Foy Elementary School closed the show with incredible dance moves to millennial hits. They danced to “Step By Step” by New Kids On The Block, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” by the Backstreet Boys, “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child, “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction, “Dynamite” by BTS, and “Bye Bye Bye” by N’Sync, made popular again by the 2018 movie Deadpool 2 nearly 20 years after its original release.

This year, for the first time, the PAF high school division is going on the road — to Jonquière. On April 16, workshops for high school participants will be held at Riverside Regional High School. The next day, students will perform at the Palace Theatre in Arvida.

Students, parents and community members can follow the 20th PAF by listening to the podcast Voices of PAF! online at cqsbperformingartsfestival.com.

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Bill 40 ruling a victory for English school boards

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Bill 40 ruling a victory for English school boards

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Quebec’s English-language school boards are celebrating a major victory after the Quebec Court of Appeal largely upheld an earlier Superior Court ruling on the English- speaking community’s right to oversee its own school system as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In practice, advocates say, the ruling means Bill 40 – the reform passed by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government in 2020 which replaced elected school boards with government-run service centres overseen by unelected volunteer boards with limited power – cannot be applied to English school boards. English boards, they say, will continue to function as they have since 1998, when language-based school boards replaced sectarian ones.

“We’ve been functioning as if Bill 40 didn’t exist, and we plan to continue functioning that way,” said Joe Ortona, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA), which brought the case along with Montreal’s Lester B. Pearson School Board and a concerned parent.

When Bill 40 was being debated, its backers argued that it would increase efficiency and remove the need for costly school board elections that relatively few people vote in. However, QESBA and its member boards saw an attempt to deprive Quebec’s English- speaking communities of their charter right to control their education system. Several months after the bill passed, a court suspended its application to English-language school boards while the case progressed. In August 2023, Superior Court Judge Sylvain Lussier struck down large parts of the law as it applied to English boards, in line with QESBA’s argument that the law limited the Charter rights of official language minority communities. In September of that year, the government appealed the ruling.

On April 3, the Court of Appeal essentially upheld Lussier’s original verdict. Judges Robert M. Mainville, Christine Baudouin and Judith Harvie found that the school governance scheme set out in Bill 40 infringed on the community’s right to control its education system and disincentivized parent and community involvement. The community is “entitled to independent school boards that must, at a minimum, allow minority language representatives to exercise exclusive authority relating to minority-language education and facilities,” they wrote, in a ruling that extensively cited jurisprudence involving francophone school districts in English Canada. “The court cannot accept the argument that the linguistic minority is represented through the staff hired by a service centre.”

“This is more than we could have hoped for,” Jean Robert, chair of the Central Québec School Board (CQSB) Council of Commissioners, told the QCT. “The major thing is that the ruling recognizes that Bill 40 was infringing on our rights under the Charter, which is the basis of all our arguments.”

“We have local elected representatives who are account- able to the English-speaking community, and that is how it should be,” Ortona said in an interview. “It means the community has a voice, because elected representatives [on] boards managed and controlled by commissioners are accountable to the community, rather than accountable to the minister elected by all Quebecers. Now, we get to cater to the will of the community when it comes to management. The French sector doesn’t have that.”

Eva Ludvig is the president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), which was granted intervenor status in the case. “The QCGN had reminded the court that although Quebec has broad authority over education, that authority is not limitless,” she said in a statement. “If a law interferes with minority- language rights, the burden is on the province to justify it … and that is a high bar to meet. This is why today’s ruling is such a landmark win for our community.”

Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents’ Committee Association, said the parents’ group was “thrilled” with the “historic victory.” She called the deci- sion “a powerful reminder that our voices matter, and our right to govern our schools is non- negotiable.”

“We will be able to choose our own destiny, and the population will have the opportunity to choose their commissioners and their chairperson,” Robert said. “It will continue what we believe is a very successful way of governing our school system. … We can move ahead knowing the courts have clearly decided we have that right protected.”

The Quebec government has 60 days from the date of the ruling to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the ruling “out of respect for the judicial process.”

Ortona and Robert said they hoped the government would not appeal, and would instead use the ruling as the basis for a new working relationship with English school boards. “We want to sit down with the government and say, ‘Let’s accept it and move on and see what’s best for the students,’” said Robert. “They may decide otherwise, but we are hopeful that [because] the decision was so clear, the government will accept it and we can work together.”

Bill 40 ruling a victory for English school boards Read More »

Combined high school project delayed until 2028, CQSB chair says

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Combined high school project delayed until 2028, CQSB chair says

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Central Québec School Board chair Jean Robert has confirmed the project to build a new high school most likely will be delayed by at least a year from the earlier target of September 2027.

The QCT reported in December that the Quebec government is pausing approval of new education construction projects, which could include the new English high school in Quebec City that’s been in the infrastructure planning process since 2019. 

Robert told the QCT  “everything is on track” for the project, despite delays. “I’ve been told it’s on the desk now of the Treasury Board. It’s gone through every single ministerial approval. We need the OK from the Treasury Board to be able to go out for tenders.”

Robert said, “We’ve spent over $20 million [on the project] so far. I can’t imagine that the government, having invested so much money, would all of a sudden say it’s a no-go.”

He said even if the board got the green light tomorrow, the school probably would not be finished until spring 2028, but it would make sense to wait until the fall term to move students into the new building. 

In the meantime, Robert said the complex project is moving forward on several fronts. He said the deal to acquire a slice of land adjacent from the federal government “was signed last week.” A similar deal to exchange parcels of land with the neighbouring property of the Centre des services scolaire des Decouvreurs is in the process of being settled.

Regarding another piece of land needed for the project, owned by the Ville de Québec, Robert said the board has reached a deal with the city so that residents will be able to use school facilities such as gymnasiums and sports fields.

The new high school project involves a new building with a capacity of some 1,400 students on the site of the former St. Vincent Elementary School on Ave. Wolfe in Sainte-Foy. It would replace the two aging existing English high schools in the city, Quebec High School and St. Patrick’s High School, and the high school component of Dollard-des-Ormeaux School in Shannon.

Combined high school project delayed until 2028, CQSB chair says Read More »

New CQSB boss Robert ‘cautiously optimistic’ about new HS project

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New CQSB boss Robert ‘cautiously optimistic’ about new HS project

New CQSB boss Robert ‘cautiously optimistic’ about new HS project

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

“Cautiously optimistic,” is how Jean Robert, newly sworn-in chairperson of the Central Québec School Board (CQSB) Council of Commissioners, describes the board’s mood regarding approval of the new combined English high school project.

Robert was commenting on a report in the Journal de Québec last week saying only three new schools have been authorized to be built in the province next year. The report does not identify the three schools that got approved.

According to the Journal, the Quebec government has given the green light in 2025 to 28 projects, worth half a billion dollars, to add space to existing schools throughout the province.

The report said, “The budget dedicated to ‘adding space’ will mainly finance the acquisition of modular classrooms, since only three new constructions and four expansions have received approval from Quebec.” A spokesperson for Education Minister Bernard Drainville is quoted in the report, and does not deny the basic facts. Antoine de la Durantaye said, “We will continue to invest in order to meet the growing needs, while respecting our ability to pay.”

The QCT asked de la Durantaye via email whether the CQSB’s new high school was among the three schools approved for construction in 2025. Education ministry spokesperson Bryan St-Louis responded, saying, “The English secondary school project has already been announced. The process to obtain approval of the business case in accordance with the directive on the management of major public infrastructure projects is underway.”

Asked to clarify the statement, St-Louis said, “The business case must first be analyzed and authorized before confirming further details regarding the project.”

He said details on the project are available on the Treasury Board “dashboard” which indicates the project is managed by the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) and has been at the planning stage since June 2022 and under study as of November 2019.

The “dashboard” description is this: “The project in- volves the construction of an English-language secondary school on the territory of the Central Québec School Board to replace the obsolete St. Patrick’s High School and Quebec High School secondary schools. Student places from Dollard-des-Ormeaux secondary school in Shannon will also be transferred to the new school. In order to reduce the space deficit recognized by the ministry, 183 additional student places are planned. This will bring the school’s capacity to 1,421 student places.”

On the SQI website, according to a document called “Tender calls to come” (appels d’offres à venir) and dated spring 2024, the CQSB school is slated for a call for tenders in the third quarter of 2024, and construction to be started in the first quarter of 2025.

The new English high school serving the greater Quebec City region is one of only five new school projects on the SQI list. The SQI manages large infrastructures in the province, with budgets of $50 million or more. The CQSB school is in the category of $150-$500 million.

Robert, who has succeeded longtime board boss Stephen Burke after many years as vice-chair, said that despite the “worrisome” report in the Journal, “We’ve been told we should continue to be optimistic” about the new school moving forward.

Robert said much has been invested already in the new school project, to be built on the site of the now-vacated St. Vincent Elementary School, including acquiring parcels

of land from the federal gov- ernment and a neighbouring school property.

This fall, CQSB opened New Liverpool Elementary School, its new school in Lévis, to accommodate a growing population of students on the South Shore who had travelled by bus to St. Vincent. Former students living on the North Shore were transferred to other board schools.

Robert said he will be meeting with government officials in the coming days to help ensure the project moves forward.

“We just want to get it started … get that first shovel in the earth,” he said.

In the event the new high school project is delayed, Robert said, “We’d have to invest so much in the existing schools,” both of which were built decades ago and do not meet modern standards.

The current St. Patrick’s High School building dates back to 1918 and was expanded in 1956. QHS opened in its current building in 1941.

Meanwhile, the demolition of St. Vincent is on hold. Robert explained that the plan is to tear down the old building at the same time as construction starts on the new one.

Robert said he is hopeful an announcement will be made soon on the new schools approved for 2025, possibly before Christmas.

New CQSB boss Robert ‘cautiously optimistic’ about new HS project Read More »

Jean Robert acclaimed as new CQSB chair

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

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.

Jean Robert acclaimed as new CQSB chair Read More »

Register by Oct. 15 to vote in school board elections: CQSB

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

NOTE: This story was spiked from the print edition when we received a call from the CQSB stating that there would be no elections because all the candidates had been acclaimed.

Register by Oct. 15 to vote in school board elections: CQSB

Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) and the Central Québec School Board (CQSB) are encouraging members of the English-speaking community to make sure they are registered to vote ahead of school board elections this fall. 

Voters will choose a chairperson and 11 local commissioners for the CQSB Council of Commissioners at elections on Nov. 3. Early voting will take place Oct. 27. Voting can only be done in person – there are no mail-in or online ballots. 

“The people who get elected [as school commissioners] are the ones that set boardwide policies for the school board and local schools,” QESBA president Joe Ortona told the QCT. “They have an impact on kids’ education, on how schools are funded, on policies, approaches to social issues and things like bullying and rules.

“Registration is automatic for parents with a child who is enrolled in an English public school or who has voted before,” Ortona explained. Other voters may not be automatically registered.

Ortona encouraged younger English public school alumni to register to vote even if they didn’t have school-age children. “You may have children someday, and you want to make sure that there’s a vibrant and healthy school system,” he said. “Current parents are not the only people with an interest in our system. Schools are community hubs, and they are the only community institutions we have that are managed by us, the only governance level that is exclusive to the English-speaking community … and if we don’t exercise these rights, they will erode away.” 

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government abolished elected school boards in February 2020. QESBA challenged the ruling on the basis that it violated the federal constitutional right of official language minority communities to manage their schools in partnership with provincial educational authorities. After a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled in QESBA’s favour in 2023, the government chose to appeal. Ortona said he expects a ruling in the appeal sometime in 2025. “We’re very optimistic that the Court of Appeal will uphold the lower court’s decision,” Ortona said. 

“Voting is crucial for the continuity of school boards,” said Eva Ludvig, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN). “School boards are representative of the parents and we do not want to lose parental input. … We have a system supported by the community and we want to retain it.” Low turnout rates and the expense of organizing elections were cited as reasons to abolish school board elections, she pointed out. Turnout rates at elections for French boards hovered around four per cent in the years before they were abolished; English turnout rates regularly hit double figures.

Ortona said mail-in ballots, online voting, better promotion, more polling places and holding school board elections in tandem with municipal elections could potentially boost turnout even further. “There are people in the regions who are really dedicated, who are driving an hour and a half to vote, but that [distance] doesn’t encourage people to vote. In spite of that, turnout is going up.”   

The list of eligible voters will be finalized by Oct. 15, and registered voters should receive a notice of registration, with the address of their polling place, on or around Oct. 5. CQSB chief returning officer Vincent Laliberté encouraged people who are not sure whether they are registered to contact the CQSB or fill out a form on the CQSB website to double-check their registration status before the registration deadline. “Don’t be shy, call us or email us if you have questions,” Laliberté said. “It’s important that people who want to vote can vote, and that they have the right information.” 

Register by Oct. 15 to vote in school board elections: CQSB Read More »

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