A model of collaboration for half a century between Anglophones and Francophones in Montreal takes a Kafkaesque turn. The FACE public school, which brings together 1203 students of both official languages, is the theater of tensions that make it “unmanageable”, less than two weeks before the start of the school year in the midst of a pandemic, learned The duty.
This downtown Montreal school, renowned for its arts program, has been in a highly unusual position since Friday with two principals, none of whom has authority over the entire establishment.
The school is also preparing to elect two governing boards – one anglophone, the other francophone – called to replace the current board, made up of representatives of the two linguistic groups.
The English Montreal School Board (CSEM) forced this shift in the management of the FACE school by unilaterally appointing a director responsible for managing the English-speaking part of the establishment. The EMSB also decided to appoint its own governing board, despite an agreement that clearly defines the division of powers between the two linguistic groups within the school.
“It is a unilateral decision which completely changes the way of managing this school, four days before the start of the teachers’ school year. It’s irresponsible, ”responded Hélène Bourdages, president of the Montreal Association of School Managers (AMDES).
“It’s unmanageable. They have just invented a lot of problems that did not exist, as if we needed that in the middle of a pandemic, ”adds the representative of the school principals.
Appeal to Minister
Tensions are such that AMDES and the FACE school governing board have written to the Minister of Education asking him to suspend the EMSB’s decision. The Director General of the Center de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), Robert Gendron, offered in a press release his “collaboration” with his English-speaking partner to improve the governance agreement of the FACE school.
“In our opinion, with the issues involved, [cette collaboration] is not sufficient to guarantee the managers and personnel concerned, as well as the students and their parents, the conditions conducive to a serene and safe return to school, writes AMDES to the Minister of Education. It seems to us all the more important to act quickly as the new school year is upon us, as parents are nervous, as managers and staff are affected by the climate resulting from this unilateral decision. “
At the time of this writing, the Ministry of Education had not answered our questions.
This is another blow for the FACE school, whose students will be relocated for several months from July 2021 due to major work that will be carried out on the building. This forced move puts the unity of the two language groups to the test: to date, there is no building capable of temporarily accommodating the 1,200 pupils. These will likely be spread over at least two buildings – by level or by linguistic affiliation.
Linguistic cooperation
This storm shakes the FACE school (“Training in the arts at the heart of education”) as it celebrates its 45th birthday. The establishment sets itself apart by welcoming anglophone and francophone students who are educated in their language by staff from both school boards. The school has 1,203 students (including 303 English speakers) from kindergarten to Secondary V.
Under an agreement renewed in 2012, the school administration reports to the CSSDM (the French-language school service center), supported by assistants from the two service centers. Each grade level, regardless of language, is supervised by a vice-principal. All decisions are taken in collegiality between the two linguistic communities.
“Concretely in the field, this translates into a sharing of the environment (cafeteria, student café, library, daycare, corridors, schoolyard, lockers, computer lab, science laboratory, gymnasiums, auditorium, class …), by sharing school life (student life and all the extracurricular activities that result from it), by sharing resources where everyone works with the entire community […] it doesn’t matter which school board the young people belong to, ”explains the letter from the governing board to the Minister of Education.
Simon Laroche, president of the governing board, deplores that the EMSB took this decision without consulting the board, and a few days before the start of the school year.
“Although we understand the legal and administrative logic behind this decision, we are appalled by what it reveals of ignorance of the reality on the ground, the specificity of the environment, and the potentially disastrous consequences that it will entail” , indicates the letter from the governing board sent to the minister.
Compliance with Bill 40
This decision aims to “strengthen the overall governance structure of the school, as well as strengthen our strong commitment to the bright future of FACE,” said in a statement Marlene Jennings, who administers the EMSB put under government supervision. .
The EMSB thus complies with the Education Act and would also allow elected officials of the CSEM governing board of the FACE school to apply for a position of member of the new board of directors of a school service center this fall, in the event that the [projet de loi 40, contesté en cour par la communauté anglophone] was to come into force with regard to English-language school boards in Quebec, ”says the EMSB.
The CSSDM, for its part, indicates that a draft “transitional” protocol is proposed to the EMSB “in order to facilitate the administrative management of the school for the 2020-2021 school year”. This amended protocol “will allow the mandate, roles and responsibilities of each department to be defined in order to maintain quality educational services”. A resource person will be hired to help the two school administrators organize the transition.
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