Off-island and off-location for new school

Raffy Boudjikanian

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca



Though a new Lester B. Pearson school in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges

area is projected to be completed in 2090-2010 thanks to a budget of $7,7 million granted by the government of Quebec, nobody knows where it is going to be yet.

"Some research work has to be done," Marcus Tabachnick, chairperson of the Lester B. Pearson school board, explained yesterday during a press conference at Pierre-Elliott Trudeau Elementary School.

Tabachnick emphasized the construction of a new school in the area had been a project of the board for at least three to four years during his speech. "Our school board is not lax or behind," he said, flanked by Yvon Marcoux and Lucie Charlebois, provincial Liberal MNAs for the Vaudreuil and Soulanges ridings, respectively.

Though the school itself will cost $8,4 million, Tabachnick expects the remaining costs will be covered up by tax returns of around $530,000, and $157,768 from different aid programs to school boards.

"To classify this announcement as anything less than good news is, at best, irresponsible," he said.

The as-yet unnamed school is intended to be one of the most environmentally friendly in Canada, according to Tabachnik, thanks, for example, to a geo-thermal heating system, among other measures.

The school should be able to house 400-450 students in 16 classes, Tabachnick explained. The capacity is based on new limits on school capacities set by the provincial government.

"We have not entered into any formal talks with municipalities yet," Tabachnick said.

Given the rate at which demographics are growing in the municipalities of Vaudreuil-Dorion and St. Lazare, it is likely the school may end up there, he added.

However, Guy Pilon, mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorion, shot down the possibility of construction in his town. "They are asking us to give space that we don't have," he told The Chronicle during a telephone interview.

When Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Elementary opened in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Pilon said, the school was meant to expand to eventually include more students. "They have massive space (on that territory)," he explained. "They could have added two or three floors, or expanded on the territory."

However, he was told by Lester B. Pearson that, due to new provincial regulations, expansion of Pierre-Elliot Trudeau would not be possible.

According to a 2006 Statistics Canada survey, St. Lazare's population expanded by 32 per cent, reaching a total of 17,016 residents. Of the latter, 3,115 are children aged between 5-14 years old.

Vaudreuil-Dorion's population grew by 29 per cent according to the same survey, with a total of 25, 789 residents. Of those, 3,330 are between 5-14 years old.

St. Lazare town officials did not return phone calls for comment as of press time.