Lester B. Pearson school board

LBPSB election results

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

In the Sunday elections at the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB), the three contested wards saw significant voter participation, largely driven by the English-speaking community’s motivation to make their voices heard. Observers highlighted steady voter turnout and enthusiasm, reflecting a strong interest in maintaining the integrity of school boards. Compared to the previous election, this year saw a higher voter turnout, with 20% of eligible voters participating.

LBPSB Chair Judy Kelley noted, “Through local media, we observed significant voter participation, particularly from the English community. Many felt it was crucial this time to show their involvement and communicate to the Quebec government that their voices matter. The enthusiasm for voting was evident, with steady lines and a clear interest in maintaining our boards and supporting candidates’ platforms. This higher turnout compared to the last election highlights our strong, caring community.”

Here are the results for the contested wards:

• Ward 2 (Lasalle): Frank Di Bello successfully retained his position, defeating challenger Dario Arella. Di Bello continues his role as an influential advocate for English education in Quebec.

• Ward 6 (DDO Pierrefonds): Elena Sharzan emerged victorious over incumbent Craig Berger, bringing new perspectives to the board with her experience and commitment to community service.

• Ward 9: Maureen Barren was elected, defeating Michael Papoulias.Additionally, four new parent commissioners have been elected by their peers, ready to collaborate with the councillors and contribute to the school board’s ongoing development. n

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Ex-LBPSB official pleads guilty in student scandal

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The publication ban on the fraud case involving the former head of the Lester B. Pearson School Board’s (LBPSB) international department Caroline Mastantuono was lifted last week after she pled guilty to the forgery charges brought against her.

An investigation led by the Quebec anti-corruption unit revealed evidence that the 61-year old former LBPSB employee forged and trafficked forged documents as part of a fraudulent enrolment scheme for international students.

A company owned by a Blainville resident and at least one other former LBPSB employee who are still protected by the publication ban were allegedly involved in the fraudulent scheme headed by Mastantuono.

Over eighty receipts representing a sum of $1,648,281 for 25 students were at the heart of the investigation that revealed that at least 16 of them were not affiliated with the recruitment agency in question. The LBPSB was billed a commission for the recruitment services linked to international students, mainly from India.

The overall processes common in each case related to the scheme involved international students {span}receiving a study permit from Immigration and Citizenship Canada.

When contacted by The Suburban for comments on this case, the LBPSB refused to comment or provide any statements on its position.

Mastantuano’s recuiting firm owned by herself as well as some of her family members entitled Rising Phoenix International is the subject of multiple lawsuits particularly stemming from the private educational sector. She continued to recruit students in the private sector after the LBPSB fired her shortly after the accusations against her made headlines, nearly four years ago. n

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Artgate lawsuit climbs to $2.4 million

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The lawsuit launched by parents against the Lester B. Pearson school board (LBPSB), known internationally as Artgate, has reached $2.34 million with 13 parents joined in the legal action.

After nearly two months Martin B. DeBellefeuille, the lawyer representing all of the parents in the lawsuit, was electronically notified that the law firm Morency Avocats was appointed to the file, representing both the Lester B. Pearson School Board and the teacher Mario Perron.

“Two months is an excessive amount of time, when you think about it; to source out, then finally secure legal representation in a case that has drawn worldwide media attention, is really long in my opinion,” Joel DeBellefeuille, one of the parents filing the lawsuit said. “It leaves room for some serious speculation. You have a school board deeply entrenched in an historical, never before seen copyright infringement case in Quebec, let alone in the history of all Commonwealth countries and it took them two months to find a lawyer?”

On February 8, second-year high school students from Westwood Junior High School discovered the sale of their artwork assigned to them as a school project by their teacher Mario Perron. Students were previously advised by their teacher that the project entitled “creepy portraits” was a mandatory assignment. In total, the works of 96 students was discovered online for sale, allegedly listed by Perron with print on demand options such as wall art prints, face masks, men and woman’s apparel, mugs, greeting cards and stationary.

Parents who reached out to the school’s principal and the school board were met with a non-apologetic silence and the teacher continued to contact students by e-mail assigning art projects. While refusing to have a discussion with parents, the school’s principal also called down students related to the issue to her office to question them, without informing parents.

The parents suing for copyright infringements and moral damages demanded that the artwork listed without their permission or the knowledge of its creators until it was discovered be removed immediately and demanded an apology.

“So far, no apology,” DeBellefeuille told The Suburbann

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LBPSB encourages measles vaccine for students

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) sent out a letter of recommendation issued by the regional public health authority (CIUSSS), urging parents and students to be vaccinated against measles as two cases have been reported recently in Montreal. In the event of an outbreak at school, unvaccinated students may be sent home for several weeks, the letter warns.

Children are not required to be vaccinated to have access to public schools in Quebec, except in the event of an outbreak of a contagious disease in which case access to school may be denied until the outbreak subsides. For children under the age of 14, vaccines can only be administered with parental consent. Over the age of 14, the child may consent or refuse to be vaccinated, however a court order can be issued obligating them to be vaccinated if it is required for their state of health as determined by a healthcare professional.

Measles is an airborne virus that is highly contagious. According to the regional health authority, an unvaccinated person who comes into contact with an infected person has a 90% chance of catching the disease and one in 10 people with measles will require hospital care.

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Artgate parents launch lawsuit; LBPSB silent

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The families of some Westwood junior high school students launched a lawsuit against art teacher Mario Perron and the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) as it continues to remain silent and fails to respond to the demand letter sent on behalf of eight parents on Feb. 13.

According to the demand letter, the families requested an apology and the removal of all artwork online as well as statutory damages in the amount of $1.4 million claimed against the art teacher Mario Perron and the school board. Both parties failed to address the contents of the demand letter.

“One would seem to think that the school board is condoning the actions of Mario Perron as they are choosing to continue to remain defiant and silent on this egregious abuse and historical copyright infringement by the art teacher, that made headlines around the world,” Joel DeBellefeuille, the parent who launched the initial lawsuit, told The Suburban.

There are now 9 families attached to the lawsuit, bringing the total demand of damages to just over $1.5 million. n

Artgate parents launch lawsuit; LBPSB silent Read More »

WI Art teacher and LBPSB sued for $1.4 million

By Chelsey St-Pierre

The art teacher from Westwood Junior High who placed his students’ artwork online for sale along with the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) are being sued by parents for $1.4 million and the number keeps going up as more families continue to join the lawsuit. The LBPSB, the school’s administration and the art teacher, Mario Perron have all remained silent and unapologetic in the face of the accusations despite the incident having made international headlines.

Joel DeBellefeuille, the parent who originally launched the lawsuit, told The Suburban after the demand letter was sent, that his son along with other students were called down to the principal’s office to be questioned during school hours, while the administration continues to ignore parents’ demands for answers. “The school should not be questioning these kids without a parent present while on the doorstep of a lawsuit. They say that they can’t comment to parents but are systematically calling down students. They are scrambling trying to figure out what to do, but doing all the wrong things. They are completely shutting parents out, yet have the nerve to interrogate the children without a parent or guardian present. It’s insane.”

The artwork produced in Perron’s classroom was part of an assignment that he asked students to complete. The online sale of the items was discovered by students last week and reported to parents. DeBellefeuille immediately reached out to the school’s principal who refused to give him any information as to its intentions on how to remediate the situation. The school board also refused to respond. Upon receiving the demand letter, LBPSB’s legal advisor contacted DeBellefeuille to tell him that the file has been sent to their insurance company. “It’s so blatantly obvious what this guy did, and an apology would go a long way. No steps have been taken to appease parents,” he told The Suburban.

An online search conducted by The Suburban as well as by the parents’ legal counsel revealed that the artwork of 96 students was uploaded for sale with print-on-demand options for 31 different products, such as cups and t-shirts.

“The volume of items sold through this scheme is immense, totalling 2,976 items, constituting 2,976 distinct violations of intellectual property laws,” the demand letter sent by the students’ families’ lawyer reads.

Parents are also concerned about the confidentiality and safety of their students as the artwork produced was a style of portraits of themselves or their peers entitled “creepy portraits” and the names of the artists were placed online with their respective creations.

The school principal, Anna Haller, however, only mentioned her concern for the privacy of school staff in response to an e-mail sent by DeBellefeuille requesting her help with the matter prior to his decision to sue. “Thank you for your email. The matter is currently under investigation. All matters pertaining to LBPSB employees remain confidential” was the total extent of her e-mail to him. n

WI Art teacher and LBPSB sued for $1.4 million Read More »

WI art teacher sells his students’ work for own profit

By Chelsey St-Pierre

An art teacher at a public junior high school in Saint-Lazare placed his students’ artwork on his website as well as a U.S.-based public website for sale.The grade 8 art teacher, Mario Perron used the names of the students who produced the drawings in the titles which were displayed above their respective pieces of art on the site, all which could be found under a section entitled “student art” under his seller profile.

Perron has just over 1,700 works of art for sale on the U.S.-based site. He placed 96 student creations for sale with prices ranging from $94.00 — $190.00. “For this guy to feel like he has carte-blanche is extremely alarming,” said a parent named Dave (pseudonym used for this purpose of this article) who contacted The Suburban, on condition of anonymity in order to protect the identity of his minor child.”My teen came home from school telling me that his art teacher is selling students’ artwork online. This is invasive to the privacy of the students that he is teaching.”

The Suburban contacted the school’s administration as well as the school board that refused to comment except for the following, “The Lester B. Pearson school board (LBPSB) is aware of the situation and is taking these allegations very seriously. An investigation is underway so the school board cannot comment on this matter any further at this point,” LBPSB spokesperson Darren Becker told The Suburban.

Westwood Junior High School principal Anna Haller did not respond to The Suburban’s request for comment, however when a parent reached out, she responded with concern for the confidentiality pertaining to staff. “Thank you for your e-mail. This matter is currently under investigation. All matters pertaining to LBPSB employees remain confidential.”

“Mr. Perron did not take into consideration the children’s confidentiality when he posted and then attempted to sell their drawings online without the consent of the children. the parents or the school board. This is extremely troubling and concerning,” Dave explained.

The Suburban ran an online search test and it took less than 10 minutes to connect the dots between where Perron works and view the names of his students starting from the artwork sales site. On his Facebook profile, Perron is listed as a teacher for the Lester B. Pearson school board and links to the sale of his students’ artwork was also connected to his public profile. In his Bio link, it says he teaches at a West Island school. With a quick search of “West Island school’s staff lists and Mario Perron”, it was easy to locate Perron as a current staff member at Westwood Junior high school. n

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