The Gleaner

Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

Students at Chateauguay Valley Regional High School (CVR) in Ormstown will be shelving their cellphones as part of a new policy banning the use of such personal devices throughout the day.

“We are disconnecting to reconnect with our learning,” says principal Lynn Harkness, of the decision to extend the Ministère de l’Éducation directive banning the use of cellphones in classrooms to the entire school.

“We are moving forward with no cellphones in the school, from when you walk in until you leave the building at the end of the day,” Harkness explains, noting students may bring their devices to the school but must leave them in their lockers, even during breaks and lunch hour.

“We are looking at what is in the best interests of our students as social reflective learners,” says Harkness, who strongly feels that limiting cellphone use and exposure to screens will allow students “to be more socially connected without being digitally connected.”

The policy will also help teachers in the classroom, where Harkness says cellphones have taken priority. “It has become a bone of contention. And the time that we spend navigating this is taking away from learning,” she explains. The hope is that by removing these distractions, students will be able to focus and reconnect with what is going on in class.

Increasing participation

Jessica Barrette, a leadership advisor and senior-school teacher, says student cellphone use skyrocketed during the pandemic. “When we came back to school and kids were alternating between days, we had a real honest chat about how much screen time they were clocking during those days at home,” she explains. Students were often shocked to see their daily screen time, which sometimes amounted to over 13 hours per day. “They had no idea,” she adds.

Barrette points to research attributing increasing anxiety levels among students to cellphone use and says this is directly impacting student interactions as they are less likely to take risks or participate in school activities. She confirms participation rates have dipped in leadership activities such as theme days, which are designed to encourage more community within the school.

Providing support

Teacher and parent Erika Rosenbaum says removing cellphones from the school is a powerful move. “I am almost sure that our children will look back at this time and say, I can’t believe you put a device in the hands of every child that gave them access to the entire world without supervision,” she explains. “I think that is a dangerous thing,” she continues. “And we are providing a safe space for our kids by shutting that down for a few hours a day.”

Harkness agrees, but she admits that there is an addictive factor to student cellphone use and acknowledges this transition may be more difficult for some. “Our intention is not to stress kids out,” she says, while noting they are ready to support students who may be more affected by the policy.

Harkness says she also understands parents use cellphones to communicate with their children during the day and suggests students will be able to use phones in the office to communicate with their families during school hours. Students may use their phones after school hours to coordinate transport, or to communicate with their families in case of schedule changes or late bus cancellations.

“We are up for the challenge,” Harkness says. “And we hope the community is on board to allow us to prioritize learning and community building.”

Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

With over 12,000 students across its population, the Centre de services scolaire de la Vallée-des-Tisserands (CSSVT) is growing too quickly for its available space.

CSSVT director general Suzie Vranderick has confirmed that the $57.6-million expansion project to accomodate up to 700 new students at École Baie-Saint-François is ongoing, while the government has announced the construction of two new elementary schools within the service centre’s territory.

The groundbreaking ceremony to start construction on a new school in the Grande-Île sector in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield took place on August 23. The future facility will accommodate 576 students and will feature 24 classrooms, including six preschool classes and 18 regular classes. The school will also contain a double gymnasium, a multipurpose room with a pedagogical kitchen, as well as a learning hub, collaborative spaces, and an art and music room.

The provincial government will invest $34.3 million to build the school, which should be ready to welcome staff and students for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

The construction of a second elementary school in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield was confirmed by the Ministère de l’Éducation on August 21. The new 17-classroom elementary school will be built on the grounds of the École Frédéric-Girard school in the city’s La Baie sector.

The school will feature three kindergarten classrooms, 12 regular classrooms, and two special education rooms.

“Thanks to this new building, our school community will have the chance to explore and develop in an innovative educational environment and in stimulating spaces that reflect the trend of new-generation schools,” said Vranderick.

“A magnificent future continues to unfold for our artisans, our youth, and our professional community,” she added.

Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

The 2024-2025 school year marks the seventh consecutive increase in student numbers at the CSSVT, which has grown by 28 per cent in the youth sector over the past five years. As of August 22, at least 396 more new preschool- and elementary-level students were registered compared to last year, as well as an additional 214 students at the secondary level.

Students returned to class at schools associated with the Centre de services scolaire de la Vallée-des-Tisserands (CSSVT) on August 30, and there were a lot of new faces per classroom.

“In Montérégie, all school service centres are experiencing growth, but in relative terms, we’re experiencing the biggest increase,” says director general Suzie Vranderick, who acknowledges the service centre was caught off guard by this rapid expansion.

“In 2018, we drew up our Commitment to Success Plan, which anticipated an increase of 1,000 students between 2018 and 2030. And now, we are already up to over 1,500 students in just three years,” she explains.

The adult sector is also booming, with an increase of 209 students in the general education sector, as well as 105 students in vocational programs.

The CSSVT attributes some of this growth to an increase in immigration to the region, which has led to a need for more Francization courses. More courses are also being added during the day and evening, and even on Saturdays, to meet demand; and a new point of service was launched in the Haut-Saint-Laurent last year, with three evening courses taking place at École Arthur-Pigeon high school in Huntingdon.

In the youth sector, new arrivals who are less familiar with the French language are integrated directly into the classroom. “We are keen to support our schools, and we are working with our teachers and teams to do just that,” says Vranderick, who admits they have no plans to open language classes in the youth sector.

Most positions filled

Student population growth has also translated to challenges in terms of teacher and staff recruitment and hiring. On the first day of school, at least 97 per cent of teaching positions had been filled. Around 96 per cent of support staff positions were filled, and 93 per cent of the positions for educational professionals were staffed.

Assistant director general François Robichaud explains that the CSSVT has had difficulty filling five psychologist positions, which account for much of the remaining professional positions. “Because of this, we decided to integrate other services, such as occupational therapists, who will work as part of a team with the other departments,” he says.

Robichaud adds the CSSVT emphasizes the hiring of qualified employees but admits that like many other service centres and school boards, some positions have been filled by non-legally qualified personnel. “We have teacher mentors to support those who are new to us at the start of their careers. We also have training courses that will be offered throughout the year, so we will be supporting them to ensure quality service is offered to our students,” he explains.

Targeting graduation rates

The CSSVT acknowledges that along with its population growth and need for more space, the service centre is facing another challenge in terms of slumping graduation rates.

Vranderick says the CSSVT has set a target for June 2027 to have 73.2 per cent of its students graduate. The current graduation rate after five years sits at 54.9 per cent, which is considerably lower than the provincial average of 72.5 per cent. After seven years, the figure improves to 67.3 per cent, but still falls short of the provincial average of 84.3 per cent.

The service centre’s Commitment to Success Plan 2023-2027 aims to address this issue by targeting priority areas for intervention, including increasing student success in core subjects such as French literacy and mathematics. “Our focus is on monitoring our cohorts,” says Vranderick. “We are talking about assured competencies, where we want 70 per cent of our students to score at least 70 per cent on elementary school ministerial exams,” she says, noting they had previously used a passing grade of 60 per cent as their marker for success.

Along with the Commitment to Success Plan, each school also has its own plan in place. “When we talk about graduation success in our region, we obviously focus on the school, but it’s the student who succeeds,” says Vranderick. She explains that this represents the work of a team which includes not only school staff and administration, but also each student’s family and their community as well.

Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

Even though the New Frontiers School Board (NFSB) shut down for a two-week break over the summer, work on several renovation projects at various schools was continued to ensure all would be up and running by September.

The board received Education Ministry funding to complete at least ten projects in nine schools as part of ongoing efforts to maintain and improve school buildings. According to the NFSB’s director general, Mike Helm, the funding represents a total investment of approximately $10.6 million across the board.

At Valley schools, projects included interior renovations at Hemmingford Elementary School in the basement, cafeteria, and kitchen. Students at Heritage Elementary School in Huntingdon will notice improvements to the washrooms on the main floor, and their gymnasium floor has been refinished.

Renovations also took place in the basement at Howick Elementary School including work in the cafeteria, kitchen, and a classroom, while at Ormstown Elementary School, renovation work concentrated on the main floor and a stairway.

Finally, all the exterior doors at Chateauguay Valley Regional High School in Ormstown have been replaced, including the principal entrance.

In Chateauguay, work was done to replace windows at Howard S. Billings High School, and the entrance off Maple Street has been asphalted.

All the washrooms were upgraded at Mary Gardiner School, while renovations also took place at Saint-Willibrord Elementary in certain classrooms, the administration offices, and in the main floor washrooms. Work has also been done to improve certain classrooms, the kitchen, staffroom, music room, and daycare at Centennial Park School.

“We are in excellent shape with all of our projects,” says Helm. “All of our projects are going to be completed on time,” he added, noting the board is especially proud of the work done to improve its schools.

Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

With less than a week before the start of the new school year, the New Frontiers School Board (NFSB) has filled all its full-time teaching positions.

“We do have a few part-time teacher replacements that we have to fill, but nothing that will impact the homeroom teacher or a core teacher in a classroom,” says the NFSB director general, Mike Helm, who suggests the NFSB is in “really good shape” for the start of the school year.

This achievement sets the NFSB apart from many other school boards and school service centres across the province.

According to Education Minister Bernard Drainville, Quebec was still missing more than 5,700 teachers as of August 12, including 1,406 permanent or full-time positions. During an August 16 press conference, Drainville insisted that while the number is still high, it represents 2,800 fewer vacancies when compared with the same time last year.

Drainville said the total number of required teachers increased by 3,700 this year, as over 20,000 new students will enter the public education system this fall. The province is also juggling positions left vacant by retiring teachers and those who have left the profession or reduced their contracts to part-time.

The Education Ministry’s dashboard indicates there are 1,510 full-time positions to be filled in the Montérégie region. As of August 12, over 96 per cent of those available at the NFSB were filled, while around 91 per cent of vacancies within the Centre des Services Scolaire de la Vallée-des-Tisserands were filled. Information relating to open positions for support staff and education professionals was not available as of press time.

Helm says the recruitment team at the NFSB will focus on filling aid positions that have been created as well as additional staffing needs into the startup of the school year. “We are confident that we will be able to get all of those positions filled over the next couple of weeks,” he insists, noting all administrative positions are also in place.

Helm suggests there is good reason for optimism looking ahead to the start of the year. There are no pandemic concerns, and the negotiations taking place between the government and different union groups that eventually led to strikes last fall have been settled. “This year we will really be able to focus on teaching and learning and getting back to those key elements that we want to be focused on,” he explains.

Parents can visit the NFSB website (nfsb.qc.ca) over the next week for information on the first days of school for all grade levels, as well as transportation and other details to help ensure the transition back to the classroom is as smooth as possible for NFSB families.

Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

In 2021, two groups of Grade 8 students came together to design outdoor classroom spaces as a project at Chateauguay Valley Regional High School. Public health measures at the time meant students were spending up to four periods per day in the same classroom, literally dreaming of going outside. Now, four years later and post-pandemic, two outdoor classrooms have officially been inaugurated and the students who were initially involved in the project have received their diplomas.

Teacher Marie-Ève Beaulieu-Demers recalls how her students gravitated toward the idea when it was first introduced, noting how the multidisciplinary project quickly became integrated into most subject areas. She admits it has been a long road, with a few bumps along the way, but is content her students have seen the project through and are leaving a legacy behind as a reminder of student effort and resilience.

“I wanted them to shine,” says Beaulieu-Demers of her students. “I knew it was hard during COVID, but I had such great groups of students, and they wanted to do something,” she explains. “They achieved so much in that year. Everyone got involved … The students were brilliant, and I saw it at graduation. I was so proud of them.”

The project also left its mark on the students, including Maurene O’Farrell, Téa Guérin Roy, and Odin Wania – they remember dividing the different tasks involved in the project, from fundraising, which involved organizing a silent auction and the creation of a recipe book, to the research and design process, making models, and documenting the whole process. “I remember doing that project more than I remember COVID,” says O’Farrell of that difficult time.

Following Grade 8, the project was met with delays as the prices for construction materials soared and the school saw a succession of administrative changes. “It was hard to solidify its place as a project in the school,” says O’Farrell, who admits they were a little disappointed when the buildings were first constructed, as they were not quite how they had imagined them.

The classrooms are both covered wooden structures with workspaces for students. One is located in a shaded area near the football field and track, while the other sits at the foot of one of the small hills bordering the parking lot on the other side of the campus.

A handful of students began working on the project again in earnest this year. They added some picnic tables, cleaned up the spaces, and planted some trees. “Before it was more theoretical, and now we actually got to complete it, which I don’t think we actually thought would happen,” says O’Farrell, noting the fact that the structures are in place and will be used is satisfying.

“We do see people using them, and when we do, I can see that I was part of something important. I did the sketch for that,” says Guérin Roy.

CVR’s principal, Lynn Harkness, says it was a priority to inaugurate the classrooms before the students graduated, and has promised to continue with the project.

The school purchased a set of camping chairs for students to use this year, as well as rolling whiteboards for teachers, and garbage cans. “The school is funding and supporting the project in different phases. As we move forward, ideally, we would like to put some funds into permanent tables that cannot be destroyed by our friends that visit during the summers and evenings,” she explains, noting the spaces also benefit the community.

“I think there will be a celebration of what this cohort, this class of 2024, has accomplished,” says Harkness. “And although both designs did not turn out exactly the way that everybody wanted, we are happy to have these outdoor spaces, and we are very excited to build on them as we move forward.”

Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

“It has been a very difficult few days,” says the New Frontiers School Board director general, Mike Helm, who admits the last week of school was challenging for school staff and their students. “They managed it, but at the same time, it was not easy,” he insists, of the conditions inside Valley schools and centres as a heat wave propelled daytime temperatures into the mid-thirties.

Helm says the school board issued an advisory to staff early in the week, implementing protocols that pertain to oppressive or extreme heat conditions based on Environment Canada recommendations. The soaring temperatures, high humidity, and little respite overnight meant staff and students would be walking into overheated buildings and then working in such an environment throughout the day.

“We put these into place so that schools and centres could mobilize in terms of looking at their cool or green zones, and then have students and staff filter through these while taking on other types of activities, as well to break up the day,” he explains, noting each school has mapped out pre-defined green, yellow, and red zones depending on air flow and ventilation. Elementary teachers were also tasked with ensuring students stayed well hydrated.

The timing of the heat wave meant the impacts at the high school level were slightly less significant. Regular classes were finished, and most of the exams at Chateauguay Valley Regional had already been written. CVR also benefits from a ventilation system that keeps air flowing through the building, which helped to somewhat lower the temperature.

Adult and vocational centres were also monitoring conditions, especially in certain environments such as mechanic or welding shops and greenhouses, and teachers were encouraged to pivot to classrooms.

Helm confirms that no additional funding kicks in when schools overheat. Some administrators used discretionary funds to purchase additional fans for classrooms, but simply installing air conditioning units in each classroom is not a valid option. He says the Education Ministry is also not showing any signs it is prepared to fund the installation of cooling systems in public schools. They are, however, prioritizing this type of capacity in new builds, renovations, and expansion projects.

Looking forward to the fall, Helm says the board is considering installing ceiling fans in some rooms and is working with the material resources department to strategically help schools manage extreme heat.

Despite the heat wave, Helm says the school year has ended on a positive note. “I think our schools have done an exceptional job in terms of trying to close some of the gaps that we have had this year with the negotiations, the lost days, and in terms of our catch-up plan,” he explains. Government funding to provide catch-up initiatives to students will continue into next year, and he confirms this funding will also be used to offset costs for students needing to attend summer school.

He says this year’s graduating classes have proven their resilience. After being forced to isolate for part of their Grade 7 year, they worked through the pandemic, and are the first graduating class since 2019 to write standard ministerial exams.

Having attended several graduation ceremonies, Helm says it has been wonderful to see so many students achieve these milestones. “I think that with these students, our community is in excellent hands as they take on their next challenges.”