Bury elementary students from the French school board likely to move from East Angus to Scotstown

Due to a lack of space at l’école Parchemin in East Angus, roughly 50 students enrolled in the Hautscantons School Board living east of Route 108 in Bury will be transferred to École Saint-paul in Scotstown at the beginning of next school year, according to Director General Martial Gaudreau.

The council of commissioners for the French board is expected to vote on the resolution approving the transfer at the next meeting, scheduled for Jan.30.

A group of parents from Bury have circulated a petition raising concerns about the transfer, asking the board to explore other options.

Annie Duhaime, who represents the Bury parent’s group, outlined a number of issues with the transfer of students from East Angus to Scotstown.

According to Duhaime, the majority of Bury parents work in either East Angus or Sherbrooke. While Scotstown is the same distance from Bury as East Angus, it is in the opposite direction, which would make afterschool activities and school pickups a challenge for parents.

She added that the bus route to Scotstown is a hazard in winter and is often closed due to bad road conditions. Duhaime also said that a lot of parents decided to settle in Bury after visiting Parchemin school in East Angus and based their decision on the assumption their children would attend school there.

“The president of the Hauts-cantons School Board seems to have already made the decision even before the decision to transfer Bury students has passed,” Duhaime commented.

“They have their forecasts five years in advance with the births that are counted, how could they wait till the last moment to tell us about this problem?” Duhaime wondered.

Duhaime said parents were consulted on two occasions about the overcrowding at Parchemin; Once in May and once in November.

On both occasions Duhaime said she got the impression the Scotstown transfer was the only option being seriously considered despite opposition from Bury parents.

According to Duhaime, both the municipalities of Bury and East Angus have expressed concerns about the transfer and asked the Hauts-cantons School Board to make efforts to keep students at Parchemin.

Hauts-cantons Director General Martial Gaudreau said the board has formed committees and looked at a number of different scenarios.

Pointing out that change is difficult, Gaudreau said the board came to the conclusion that transferring some students to Scotstown is the best decision and was made in the interest of the students and their needs.

Among the options explored, Gaudreau said the board looked at expanding the Parchemin school, sending Grade 5 and 6 students to the local secondary school, appropriating classroom space from other locations in town and potentially sharing space with Pope Memorial, the English elementary school in Bury.

Dependent upon funds from the ministry of education for infrastructure, Gaudreau said there is a stipulation that all schools within a certain distance of a school at capacity must be full before an expansion could be funded. Saint-paul in Scotstown currently has 23 students enrolled.

“Scotstown wants to save their school,” Gaudreau said, explaining they have the opposite problem as Parchemin.

Gaudreau said there are roughly 70 elementary-aged students in Bury. Revising the limits of the student basin to transfer students living east of Route 108 to Scotstown would include roughly

50 of those students, Gaudreau said.

When asked about the possibility of sharing space at Pope Memorial, Gaudreau said Haut-cantons contacted the Eastern Townships School Board. Based on the space needs and the requirements of Bill 101 for separate learning spaces between French and English students, there is not enough room at Pope Memorial.

Gaudreau said the board is looking at ways to minimize impacts to parents and students. They are considering allowing students in Grades 5 and 6 to continue at Parchemin so that they can finish elementary in a school they have been familiar with for years. The transfer would involve students in younger grades who had yet to settle into the environment.

The board is also looking at an arrangement with the ETSB for daycare services at Pope Memorial, so that Bury parents could bring their children there before school and pick them up from Pope at the end of the day rather than travel to Scotstown.

According to Gaudreau, the student population at Parchemin has grown by 50 students in the last three years. There is not enough space in the gym, the cafeteria or the schoolyard to accommodate the boom in enrollment this coming September. He added that an overcrowded school is not a healthy learning environment for students.

Gaudreau is aware of the petition circulating in opposition to the plan to transfer students to Scotstown. The board has received two visits from concerned parents.

“We’re open to comments and suggestions,” Gaudreau said, but added that the board has not come up with any viable alternatives.