Pearson board merges unused schools
School-board response to dwindling enrolment at English public schools has been in the news lately.
The English Montreal school board is considering sharing space with the commission scolaire de Montréal. While some classrooms at English schools sit empty, French schools are struggling to find classrooms for an everincreasing number of students.
In the West Island, the Lester B. Pearson school board has addressed the situation differently. When enrolment dwindles, schools are merged — always a difficult scenario — and the empty building is offered to the commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys.
If the commission’s board needs a building, a government sanction is obtained and the property is sold for 30 per cent of its municipal evaluation. The money is used to upgrade LBP properties. The Quebec Education Ministry must approve all capital improvements.
“It’s a bit of a win-win situation,” LBP assistant director general Carol Heffernan said.
Heffernan used the closing of Thorndale Elementary in Pierrefonds as an example. Last September, Greendale and Thorndale elementary schools in Pierrefonds merged and became Kingsdale Academy. In July, the Thorndale building was sold to MargueriteBourgeoys for $1.5 million.
“We submitted the plans in July and will hear from the government in December or January,” Heffernan said. “We will go through the tender process in February and March and award contracts in April. That way, the work can take place over the summer.”
The first hint of dwindling enrolment at English schools began following the adoption of Bill 101 — Quebec’s language legislation — 40 years ago. Fast-forward to the 2000s, and more and more of the new families moving to the West Island are immigrants, which means their children must be educated in French. Add to the mix the fact the English population in the West Island is aging — with fewer and fewer school-age children — and you have a recipe for shrinking school enrolment.
The announcement of a school closing is shocking to parents, children and the community.
In 2016, parents were galvanized when the board announced that Lakeside Academy in Lachine and Riverview Elementary in Verdun were slated to close. That June, following a plea from parents, the decision was reversed.
“It is always a difficult, emotional decision to make,” Heffernan said of school closings.
The one exception in the West Island was the uptick in eligible students in Kirkland, which resulted in the construction of Margaret Manson Elementary in 2003.
Off-Island, things look different because young families with English-school eligibility are increasingly moving to VaudreuilDorion, St-Lazare and Pincourt.
As a result, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School in Vaudreuil-Dorion was built in 2001. Westwood High School’s junior campus, serving Hudson and St-Lazare, was built in 2000 and its senior campus was expanded in 2009. Forest Hill Elementary was built in 2005 and Birchwood Elementary in 2011. Both schools are in St-Lazare.
In 2014, St. Patrick Elementary in Pincourt was expanded to accommodate 350 more students.
“It’s booming off-Island,” Heffernan said. “But, that said, we also realize that the population lacking eligibility is also booming.”