English Montreal School Board

Ortona, team sweep EMSB election

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Joe Ortona was re-elected chairman of the English Montreal School Board by a wide margin and his entire team was elected, defeating challenger Katherine Korakakis and her team. The voter turnout was 22 percent and observers feel it would have been higher had registration rules not been changed in mid-campaign by the returning officer and Elections Quebec.

The election was contested vigorously, with some barbs at times as seen on social media. Volunteers called potential voters as late as this past Saturday night.

“Thank you to everyone who came out to vote today,” Ortona said Sunday night. “Your support means everything to us, and we’re proud to continue advocating for the needs of our English-speaking community. The journey to protect our schools never stops, and we’re honoured to have your trust. Here’s to a brighter future for the EMSB, our students and our community. Together, we’ll keep building something great.”

Ortona touted the board’s success rate of 95.9 percent graduation, and talked about the political battles the board is waging against the Quebec government over Bill 96, Bill 21, and Bill 40 – the contentious bid by the government to abolish school boards, as they did for the French sector (which some have blamed for the Ecole Bedford fiasco).

Ortona says the results send a strong message to the CAQ in terms of the community being in control of its own schools.

The results were:• For chair:Joe Ortona, Team Joe Ortona 13,289

Katherine Korakakis, Team Katherine Korakakis 4,674

• Ward 1 (Ahuntsic-Cartierville–Montréal-Nord)

Susan Perera , Team Joe Ortona 916

Franco Mazzariello, Team Katherine Korakakis 425

• Ward 2 (Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce)

Chelsea Craig, Team Joe Ortona 1,039

Howie Silbiger, Team Katherine Korakakis 631

• Ward 3 (Côte-Saint-Luc. Montreal West, Hampstead)

Paola Samuel, Team Joe Ortona 1,607

Samara Perez, Team Katherine Korakakis 1,110

• Ward 4 (Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve–Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie–Plateau-Mont-Royal–Anjou–Montreal-Est)

Maria Corsi, Team Joe Ortona 1,121

Viktoriya Grosko, Team Katherine Korakakis 333

• Ward 5 (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce)

Sharon Nelson, Team Joe Ortona 1,132

Joseph Lalla, Team Katherine Korakakis 853

• Ward 6 (Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles)

Pietro Mercuri, Team Joe Ortona 2,248

Tony Aversano, Team Katherine Korakakis 340

• Ward 7 (Saint-Laurent)

James Kromida, Team Joe Ortona 974

Vicky Pololos, Team Katherine Korakakis 471

• Ward 8 (Saint-Léonard)

Mario Pietrangelo, Team Joe Ortona 1,681

Antonio Zaruso, Team Katherine Korakakis 521

• Ward 9 (Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension–Mont-Royal–Outremont

Paula Kilian, Team Joe Ortona 938

Joanne Charron, Team Katherine Korakakis 310

• Ward 10 (Westmount–Sud-Ouest–Ville-Marie)

Julien Feldman, Team Joe Ortona 1,243

Shalani Bel, Team Katherine Korakakis 752 n

Ortona, team sweep EMSB election Read More »

The EMSB Election: The Ortona Team

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

This year’s English school boards elections will take place on November 3. The English Montreal School Boards elections are contested. Incumbent chair Joe Ortona is seeking reelection, but is facing an opponent after being acclaimed in 2021.

Ortona was Vice Chair under former Chair Angela Mancini. Ortona, a lawyer, is also the president of the Quebec English School Boards Association.

Under Ortona, the EMSB has been fighting the province’s language and secularism laws, and fighting against the move to abolish English school boards.

His leadership is being challenged by Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec.

Ortona is running for chair with a full slate of candidates for commissioners.

Ward 1 – Ahuntsic-Cartierville–Montréal-Nord

Susan Perera, a political science student at Concordia University

Ward 2 – Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Chelsea Craig is Director of Operations for Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, and a board member of the Quebec Community Groups Network.

Ward 3 – Côte-Saint-Luc, Montreal West, Hampstead

Paola Samuel is a former broadcast journalist who is active in Montreal’s Sephardic Jewish community.

Ward 4 – Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve–Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie–Plateau-Mont-Royal–Anjou–Montreal-Est

Maria Corsi has been a parent volunteer in EMSB schools, and on the EMSB Parents’ Committee.

Ward 5 – Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Sharon Nelson is the 1st Vice President of the Jamaica Association of Montreal and Assistant Director for the Executive MBA Program at the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University).

Ward 6 – Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles

Pietro Mercuri is an educator, having taught both English and French before transitioning into the corporate world.

Ward 7 – Saint-Laurent

James Kromida has been a school board commissioner since 1998, and is the current vice-chair of the EMSB.

Ward 8 – Saint-Léonard

Mario Pietrangelo retired from the Montreal police force in 2016 after a 30-year career that earned him the Police Exemplary Medal.

Ward 9 – Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension–Mont-Royal–Outremont

Paula Kilian is a stay-at-home mom who dedicated time to the Family Association and the governing board at Dunrae Gardens, and to the EMSB Parents’ Committee.

Ward 10 – Westmount–Sud-Ouest–Ville-Marie

Julien Feldman is a former journalist who has served on the governing board at Bancroft School, a board member on the Royal West Academy Foundation, and on the EMSB’s Council of Commissioners.

More information on the Team Ortona platform can be found at teamjoeortona.ca n

The EMSB Election: The Ortona Team Read More »

St. Laurent, Montreal devote $1.5 million for school safety

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The borough of St. Laurent and the City of Montreal have invested $1.5 million to ensure safety around local schools for students, school staff and motorists as the new school year begins.

The work includes eight curb extensions — similar work was done this and last year in Côte des Neiges-NDG and other locales near schools; the raising of three pedestrian crossings and two intersections, the installation of 30 speed bumps, work on 1.6 km of sidewalks and a safety awareness campaign.

The latter includes traffic signs on residential streets around schools, including those “taking the shape of a student holding a placard that reads “Attention à nos enfants!” (“Watch out for our children!”).

“These signs represent an awareness measure that has proved effective for the last two years,” says a borough statement.

The awareness campaign around schools also involves an already existing collaboration between St. Laurent, the SPVM, the City of Montreal, the Centre de services scolaires Marguerite-Bourgeoys and the English Montreal School Board.

“The aim of this campaign is to encourage all those who travel in school zones – children and their parents, motorists, pedestrians and cyclists – to adopt safe behaviours when doing so,” says the borough statement. “To achieve this goal, the partners have created various tools to raise awareness, including brochures that are handed out by the police teams from the SPVM’s Station 7 in front of approximately 15 schools in St. Laurent.” n

St. Laurent, Montreal devote $1.5 million for school safety Read More »

New provisions of Bill 96 demands more French on signs

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The Quebec government has announced that new sign law provisions of Bill 96 will take effect next June 1, and it focuses on the size and prominence of French on outdoor commercial signs, including in relation to store names trademarked only in English.

On the other hand, the aspect of Bill 96 requiring more French content on engraved markings on appliances has been delayed.

“In Quebec, when Quebecers and tourists stroll through the streets, it must be clear, Quebec is a French-speaking nation,” French language minister Jean-Francois Roberge said last week.

The legislation says French on signs must have a greater impact “in the visual field” than English, and take up two-thirds of the space on the sign.

More specifically, the law says, “where texts both in French and in another language appear on the same sign or poster, the text in French is deemed to have a much greater visual impact if the following conditions are met —the space allotted to the text in French is at least twice as large as the space allotted to the text in the other language; the characters used in the text in French are at least twice as large as those used in the text in the other language; and “the other characteristics of the sign or poster do not have the effect of reducing the visual impact of the text in French.”

The new regulations also tighten up the pre-Bill 96 requirement that a French descriptor accompany a trademark that is only registered in English, such as Best Buy, Winners and Subway, amongst many others. The Quebec government has complained that not all businesses with English trademarked names are respecting the existing regulations. Bill 96 is now requiring that the French aspects of these signs have a greater visual impact, rather than just a “sufficient presence” under the current rules.

Currently, many descriptors, such as “Électroniques” for Best Buy” and “Mode” for Winners, are less prominent than the English-language business name. For instance, the Best Buy descriptor is smaller in font size and is white, while the Best Buy logo is more prominent — not only larger in size but in more visible colours, yellow and black. The “Mode” descriptor is much smaller than the trademark name “Winners” and is below the store name.

Now, the French presence on such signs has to be twice that of the English. A graphic provided by the Quebec government provides two ways the law applies — one is that the descriptor of the store, such as “clothing”, is twice as large as the store name; and the other is that there is more French content, not only a general descriptor, but further descriptions of what the store sells, such as “shoes” and “fashion for everyone.” These do not have to be larger than the English-trademarked name.

Michel Rochette of the Retail Council of Canada has contended that the sign changes will cost businesses between $20 million and $25 million to comply with the law 11 months from now, as opposed to the Quebec government’s estimate of $7 million to $15 million.The Retail Council had called for the law to take effect three years after its publication, as originally promised, and the organization is also calling for financial aid for its members. n

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EMSB tops province in grad rates

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board has secured the highest graduation success rate in the province. According to the latest education ministry numbers, from 2022-2023, the EMSB’s graduation rate stands at 95.9%, up from 92.7% the year prior.

While most students graduated within five years, the Ministry allows for a two-year extension to ensure students have ample opportunities to earn their diplomas or obtain their initial qualifications. The province-wide success rate of this seven-year cohort including public and private school results, stands at 84.2%. (The public system’s average is 81.7%, while the private sector reaches 93.5%.)

EMSB chair Joe Ortona said the numbers are particularly impressive given that this cohort was affected by the pandemic. “The province reinstated uniform exams in June 2022. It is reassuring to note that student achievement has remained stable in the courses required for graduation, and academically, COVID does not appear to have had a marked effect on these students.”

The board actually exceeded the overall average, and the private networks as well, added EMSB director general Nick Katalifos. “The pandemic years were extremely challenging for all of us. Everyone rose to the occasion. The results stem from a collective effort — our teachers, in-school administrators, support staff, and professionals from all of the departments at the board.”

The results continue to improve and far exceed the francophone school service centres — surpassing the Centre de services scolaire de Marguerite Bourgeoys which posted Montreal’s highest French sector rate at 90.4%, (the Centre de services scolaire de Montreal at 81.5%). This, as the board continues to lead the fight against the CAQ scheme of abolishing school boards and replacing them with said service centres.

Last summer a Superior Court judge ruled that much of Bill 40 infringes on the English-speaking community’s constitutional rights to manage and control its education institutions. With more than 35,000 adult and youth sector students, the EMSB is Quebec’s largest English public school board. n

EMSB tops province in grad rates Read More »

New court victory for EMSB on Bill 96

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) is pleased with two Court of Appeal rulings issued Friday pertaining to Bill 96.

Justice Geneviève Marcotte rejected the government’s challenge to an April Superior Court decision that gave the EMSB a partial stay of Bill 96 and Charter of the French language provisions, which also benefited other English language boards and the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA).

In addition, the court also granted the EMSB’s request to appeal the same decision that declared English-language school boards to be “school service centres” like their French counterparts and will be heard once the Superior Court has ruled on the rest of the EMSB’s Bill 96 challenge.

“The fact that the Charter of the French Language requires English school boards to communicate exclusively in French when interacting with other English-speaking community organizations, including the QESBA and the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec, never made any sense,” stated EMSB Chair Joe Ortona. “I am pleased to see this injunction remain in place while we await a trial on the merits of the case.”

In the April ruling, the Superior Court concluded that the term “school service centres” in Bill 96 applied to English-language school boards, but school boards are not subject to Bill 40 and therefore are not school service centres. Bill 40, An Act to amend mainly the Education Act with regard to school organization and governance, would have transformed school boards into English-language school service centres but the nine boards were granted a stay from Bill 40 in 2020, confirmed by three Court of Appeal judges. Last August, the Superior Court declared various provisions unconstitutional and an appeal on the merits will likely be heard next year.

“We are English school boards, not school service centres like the French sector,” said Ortona. “It was important to once again make this abundantly clear. Even the Office québécois de la langue française and the Attorney General of Quebec’s lawyer acknowledged that there were legal inaccuracies in the judge’s analysis on the question.”

The EMSB’s constitutional challenge to Bill 96 has been joined with challenges of other parties and is progressing through the court system and expected to be a lengthy process. “This is partly why winning a stay is an important development, in order to avoid suffering irreparable harm while we wait,” said Ortona.

The EMSB is challenging Bill 96 notably on the basis that it violates the English-speaking community’s right to management and control of its educational institutions under s. 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. n

New court victory for EMSB on Bill 96 Read More »

EMSB heads to Supreme Court on Bill 21

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board is heading to the Supreme Court over Bill 21.

The school board is asking the country’s highest court to hear an appeal of the Quebec Court of Appeals February judgment that the Act respecting the laicity of the State is constitutional.

The Legault government’s Bill 21 came into force in 2019 and prohibits certain state employees such as police officers, judges and teachers from wearing religious symbols on the job. The EMSB challenged some of its provisions, claiming that they violate minority language education rights guaranteed under Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as gender equality, protected under Section 28.

The Quebec Superior Court had earlier agreed that the law violated section 23 by preventing English-language school boards from hiring teachers wearing religious symbols. That ruling was struck down by the Appeals Court.

“We maintain our original position that Bill 21 conflicts with our values and our mission and with those of all Quebecers as expressed in the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms,” said EMSB Chair Joe Ortona. “Its very adoption was contrary to our societal goal of promoting our peaceful co-existence in a pluralistic Quebec.”

Ortona also said the law prohibits future primary and high school teachers, school principals and vice-principals from wearing religious symbols in the exercise of their functions, while limiting the career advancement of current employees. “It prevents the EMSB from hiring teachers- including French teachers- in the context of a teacher shortage. Most importantly it sends a message of intolerance and exclusion to our students and their families.”

At a special council meeting convened Wednesday night, the elected and unelected members of the board’s council of commissioners voted to mandate the Power Law firm to file an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In February, the board slammed the appeal court ruling, noting the law’s particularly disproportionate effect on “Muslim women with university teaching degrees” and said the ruling tacitly allows “the provincial government to continue chipping away at the last bastion of the English-speaking community’s autonomy in our province.” n

EMSB heads to Supreme Court on Bill 21 Read More »

EMSB proposes new school for students with disabilities

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board has launched a consultation process to open a new school for students with different disabilities. The board is proposing to house the new school at Nesbitt Elementary School in Rosemont for the 2025-26 academic year, coinciding with the closure of St. Raphael Elementary in Park Extension.

St. Raphael presently welcomes students with severe socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties and is at full capacity with a waiting list. The new location will serve neurotypical and neurodivergent students with severe behavioural difficulties and provide specialized resources and space to address the needs of both groups. The school would welcome 112 students overall, with each class having from six to eight students.

Over the last five years, the EMSB has opened numerous self-contained classes in mainstream schools to address the needs of students with specialized needs, causing overcrowding in some schools and extended resources across the system. As the EMSB has limited numbers of self-contained classrooms due to lack of space, students with complex needs are often placed in regular classes. Moreover, some students need specialized services that self-contained classes in regular schools cannot offer.

EMSB Chair Joe Ortona says the public hearings to take place in September 2024 will explore the need to consolidate resources in one location and create a centre of expertise to better serve students with different disabilities. “Having the students with exceptional challenges in a building where there is an existing school with joint activities, such as concerts, carnival days, welcome back festivities, just to name a few, would help facilitate the integration of neurotypical children into a regular setting,” he said.

“The integration of students with particular needs into a regular setting offers equitable opportunities and improves the learning outcomes for all children.” n

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