St-Gérard students and their parents celebrate Quebec’s $10-million plan to decontaminate and expand the mould-infested school.
Villeray school scheduled to reopen in January 2015
A little over a year after they were forced out of their aging building by a mould infestation, students at a Villeray elementary school and their parents had reason to celebrate on Sunday.
Gathered in the courtyard beside the still-shuttered École St-Gérard for a “Nordic picnic,” a parents’ group that has been pushing for the renovation of the brick building on Berri St. toasted the announcement of new funding from the provincial government with steaming cups of hot chocolate.
The Education Ministry confirmed late Friday that it has set aside $10 million to gut, repair and expand the school. The Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSM) will pitch in an additional $6 million for the project. When it reopens, St-Gérard will have 10 new classrooms and a new gym — and will hopefully be mould-free.
“I think that Quebec heard and understood our needs,” said Chantal Laperrière, speaking on behalf of the parents’ group. “We worked very hard ... and we’re very happy.”
The school’s closing was announced on Jan. 11, 2012. The CSM estimated it would be 18 to 24 months before the building was once again safe. Nearly a year later, parents and staff were becoming increasingly concerned as there had been no apparent movement to decontaminate and reopen the school.
They launched a letter-writing campaign over Christmas to encourage Education Minister Marie Malavoy to kick- start the process.
CSM president Daniel Duranleau said that with funding now secured, the work should begin “rapidly.” Laperrière said parents will be holding him to that.
“For the (parents’ group), the goal for reopening the school is January 2015,” she said. “There are still steps to take.”
The CSM first contacted the public health department in the fall of 2011 after several adults and children at St-Gérard began complaining of minor health problems — respiratory ailments, runny noses and coughing being the most common. Air samples were taken in 29 rooms throughout the building and results showed unhealthy lev- els of mould in every one.
The board said problems likely dated back to November 2010, when a pipe burst and flooded parts of the school. Repairs were carried out, but public-health officials believe mould began to grow and spread between the walls, and then spores were shaken loose as a result of some masonry work. Virtu- ally undetectable, they began floating freely through the building.
Following the closing, StGérard’s 425 students and their teachers were moved to a CEGEP building in Ahuntsic and then to Georges Vanier secondary school.