Quebec's education minister says he hopes EMSB won't pursue legal action over school transfers
Jean-François Roberge says taking 2 instead of 3 schools from EMSB shows he is open to compromise
Quebec's education minister won't rule out having to transfer more school buildings from English-language school boards to overcrowded French boards in the future.
However, in an interview with CBC News Friday, Jean-François Roberge said the fact that he transferred two, and not three, schools from the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) to the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île shows he is open to compromise.
"I just want to reassure the English-speaking community that it's not the plan of the government to take the schools one by one," said Roberge.
He said taking two schools from the EMSB to ease overcrowding in the French board that serves Montreal's east end was a tough decision.
"We will be open-minded to continue discussing with them, and I understand that they are shocked right now."
On Thursday, Roberge announced that two English schools in Montreal's Saint-Léonard borough, General Vanier Elementary and John Paul Junior High, would become the property of the Pointe-de-l'Île board.
Gerald McShane Elementary School in Montréal-Nord will remain an English-language school.
In a letter to parents sent Thursday evening, Roberge said the transfers would happen over the summer.
As the EMSB now scrambles to figure out what schools the affected students will attend, Roberge said he hopes the board won't split up siblings when children are shuffled around.
He said the EMSB will receive $3.5 million to compensate for the loss of the buildings.
EMSB still considering legal action
The EMSB says it is still considering its legal options to try to block the transfer of the two schools.
Roberge says he hopes the board doesn't take that route.
"It's like saying to some students from the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île: 'You don't deserve any class. You don't deserve to have a school. You don't deserve to have the right to have a school,'" he said.
"This is not a solution," Roberge said. "We have to work together."
Roberge says he hopes this is the end of the forced transfer of schools, but he didn't want to exclude the possibility other schools might need to be transferred between boards at some point.
He says he welcomes the EMSB's plans to consult over the next six months on how it can share its resources.
With files from Kristy Rich