Parents are voicing their anger over plans to move three Montreal schools from the English Montreal School Board to the Pointe-de-l’Île School Board in an effort to address overcrowding in the city’s French-language schools.
“It’s shocking,” said Giovanni Sardo, a parent who has two children at Gerald McShane Elementary School, one of the three schools slated to move.
Several possible solutions are being thrown around now in response to the potential shift. The EMSB will discuss repurposing Galileo School on Thursday, but both the province and those involved with Galileo School oppose moving that facility.
Another plan calls for “trading” the Lester B. Pearson High School for Jean-Grou Secondary School, a plan that could net about 1,000 seats for the French-language school board. But the Pointe-de-l’Île School Board needs some 3,000 spots for students.
Angela Mancini, chair of the EMSB, told Global News she is holding out hope for a solution that would involve “cohabitation,” where the two school boards could share buildings, but both boards need to agree to a plan like that.
The province has imposed a deadline of June 10 for the EMSB to find an alternative solution before the government makes the decision itself.