Petition to save Riverdale High School submitted to Quebec legislature

The fight to save an English-language high school in Montreal’s West Island has made its way to Quebec’s legislature.

A petition calling on the province to back down on its plan to transfer Riverdale High School to a French-language school board was submitted Tuesday to the National Assembly.

READ MORE: Former students consider legal action over Riverdale High School closure

Monsef Derraji, the Liberal MNA for Nelligan, presented the appeal before the blue room. The petition has gathered over 1,200 signatures from concerned students, graduates and community members.

“We are asking the government to consider the situation for several hundred students whose academic trajectory has been affected by this decision,” said Derraji as he read from the petition.

In January, the Coalition Avenir Québec government announced that Riverdale will be handed over to the overcrowded Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board. The move is meant to address the influx of newly registered students and immigrants in the province’s French-language education system.

READ MORE: Former students start petition to save Riverdale High School

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The planned transfer has come as a blow to the school’s community. In the wake of the decision, two petitions have been launched, and legal action is being considered by former students.

Amanda Lovelace, who attended Riverdale, has been active in the fight to save the Pierrefonds high school. She hopes the province will axe its plan to hand over Riverdale this summer.

“My parents were there, I went there, my daughter who is supposed to start school in September there is being taken away from four generations of her family going there,” she said. “For me, high school is make you or break you.”

Watch below: CAQ explains why Riverdale High School building given to French board

3:46 CAQ explains why Riverdale High School building given to French board

The petition was submitted one day before a public meeting is scheduled at Riverdale at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the school to address the pending transfer.

Riverdale High School is expected to change hands in July.