Vaudreuil to Hudson student transfer could be avoided, mayor says
Vaudreuil Mayor Guy Pilon surprised Lester B. Pearson board never approached him to find space solution
The mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorion says he's surprised the Lester B. Pearson School Board has decided to transfer students to Hudson without coming to him to find another solution to an overcrowding problem.
"We would have surely agreed to accommodate them, because we don't want any of our children to have to go to Hudson," said Guy Pilon. "But so far we haven't received any demands."
On Wednesday, the Lester B. Pearson School Board announced that due to zoning changes, students from at least 50 families now at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School would be transferred to Mount Pleasant Elementary School in Hudson, about 15 kilometres away.
School board officials said the re-zoning was made necessary because the Vaudreuil school is bursting at the seams.
Over the past few years, Pierre Elliott Trudeau School has sent several requests to the city, asking permission to install portable classrooms in order to deal with the overcrowding.
Pilon said the city agreed to the request each time and would have done the same this time around.
More portable classrooms not enough, board says
The mayor's comments come as welcome news to Kalpesh Patel. The parent of four children, he lives just three kilometres away from Pierre Elliott Trudeau School but the family is now zoned in the catchment area for Hudson.
"We just need to petition the Quebec government now," he said.
However, the Lester B. Pearson School Board said a third portable classroom would address some of the issues, but not all.
"That could be a possibility, but our projections for that area show another 150 students moving in," said Carol Heffernan, the board's assistant director general.
"So it would address 22 or 23 students but not another 130. It also wouldn't address the size of the building. It doesn't make the gym any larger, it doesn't give them a computer room," Heffernan added.
Many parents are upset by the change. Some told CBC that they will send their children to French-language schools if the Lester B. Pearson School Board doesn't reconsider the zoning decision.