New English-language school still in limbo

With spring thaw and construction season just around the corner, the Lester B. Pearson School Board is still looking for a municipality to offer up a site for a new English-language elementary school in the ever-growing off-island region.

Pearson’s first choices for the new school would be a location in either St. Lazare or Vaudreuil-Dorion, but with both towns unable to offer up a site up to this point, the board is now considering neighbouring municipalities such as Coteau du Lac and Les Cèdres, said Pearson chairman Marcus Tabachnick. However, he said Pearson is still pursuing talks with St. Lazare and Vaudreuil-Dorion. “We’re not giving up on them,” he said. “But it’s been difficult; very difficult.”

The board has been looking for a site since Quebec approved about $8 million for a new off-island school last fall. The idea was to have the school built for the 2009-2010 school year. “We hope to start construction this summer,” Tabachnick said, adding the board will modify design plans that were used to construct Forest Hill School (senior) in St. Lazare to speed up the process. The board, due to delays, has in the past opened a new facility in the middle of a school year. It usually takes about nine to 12 months to construct a school, Tabachnick said.

While the province provides funding to build a school in a region where numbers warrant it, the requesting board is expected to negotiate with a municipality to provide or purchase a site.

St. Lazare Mayor Paul Carzoli said his town had some negotiations with a developer to offer land for a school but it fell through. “It’s not easy to come to a deal,” he said, adding location and ecological matters have to be weighed. “I don’t see anything coming about in the next two weeks but who knows what can happen in a few months.”

Vaudreuil-Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon said parents should not blame his town if a new school is delayed. "It's not because we don't want to give them a lot. It's because we don't have one," he said.

Pilon said the Ministry of Education has the authority to expropriate land for a new school. If it decides to take that direction, Pilon said his town would be ready to help out with appropriate rezoning. "We're tired of taking the blame for this," he said. "We keep being told it's up to the municipality to fix this problem.”

Tabachnick acknowledged the provincial government could expropriate land for a school but that it would be a lengthy legal procedure. ”It would be better if worked out an arrangement with a town,” he said.

Tabachnick said Forest Hill School (junior), which could have enough kids for nine kindergarten classes next year, while Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Vaudreuil-Dorion (which has portables in use) could have five kindergarten classes. Expanding Trudeau is not option for the board even though Pilon has suggested it. “Having 900 kids in one school is not what we want (at the elementary level),” Tabachnick said, adding the ministry suggests a maximum of about 500 students. Permission to use portables, meant to be a temporary solution, at Trudeau will have to be renewed by the town after this school year.

Tabachnick hopes town officials think “creatively” in their talks with developers in order to acquire a suitable lot for a school, which needs to be about 25,000 square metres in size.