'We need another school': Montréal-Nord's burgeoning population means French schools bursting at seams

Guillaume Langlois spends much of his day shuttling glockenspiels and bongos up and down the stairs, from class to class.

Once upon a time, there was a room set aside for music at Saint-Vincent-Marie, a French-language elementary school in Montréal-Nord.

But with 769 students, the school is filled to overflowing, and there's no classroom to spare for arts, music or anything else.

"Right now, there are too many students for the classroom that we have," said Langlois, the school's music teacher.

"It's a big challenge."

Saint-Vincent-Marie, a sprawling brick building in a residential patch of the east-end borough, is among the schools belonging to the Commission scolaire de Pointe-de-l'Île caught in a dispute between the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) and the Quebec government.

The Pointe-de-l'Île board, which spans Montréal-Nord, Saint-Léonard, Anjou and Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, says it needs space for an additional 3,000 students.

The province has threatened to transfer three buildings from the EMSB to meet the demand, prompting anger and frustration from the English-language families at risk of losing their schools.

Myrna Dupoux, one of Saint-Vincent-Marie's vice-principals, expressed sympathy for those affected.

"I want all children to have enough space," said the longtime educator.

Politics aside, though, Dupoux said her school is too crowded, and something needs to be done.

"We need another school," she said.

Bruno Timpano, an English teacher, echoed Langlois's frustrations about lack of space. He also doesn't have a classroom and shares a small office with four other specialists.

Instead, he visits classes with a cart jammed with dictionaries and exercise books.

"It's not normal," he said. "I have to literally run from one end of the school to the other."

The growing student population is due in part to an influx of new immigrants and asylum seekers in recent years, said Dupoux.

The school now has eight classes d'accueil, or welcome classes, which are geared toward helping children learn French quickly and adapt to life in Montreal.

The children in those classes come from all over: Peru, Haiti, Nigeria, Mexico, Guinea, Bahamas, Cuba and the United States.

Montréal-Nord is one of the city's most diverse boroughs, where more than half the population identifies as belonging to a visible minority.

"Some of them have been to eight countries to get here," said Alexandra Alexandre, who teaches a welcome class.

Alexandre said she views herself as a "first contact" for the children and their parents.

"In the class, from the beginning of the year, I told them we're a family," she said.

In the schoolyard, many of the children boast of speaking three languages.

They, too, acknowledge the school is full.

But they see benefits, as well.

"You can make new friends every day," said Grade 6 student Esther Martinez-Membreño.