Last October, the parents of around sixty students from the Cavaliers school who live about 400 meters from the establishment – a path which turns out to be an old street closed to traffic and which is not officially recognized as a school corridor separates their block from the school – learned not without amazement that their children would be transferred to the Rapides-Deschênes school due to changes to the attendance pool. Modifications made necessary, among other things, by the anticipated overcrowding at the school which dates from 2015 and the opening at the next school year of a new primary school (037) two kilometers further on the edge of the Gatineau Golf Club.
Deploring finding themselves faced with a sort of fait accompli, parents also deplored last fall that in addition to this change of basin, school transportation would not be offered to the children to go to the Rapides-Deschênes school since the The route was deemed safe a priori by the Portages-de-l’Outaouais School Service Center (CSSPO), something that the neighborhood vehemently refuted. The absence of a sidewalk, a too sharp curve and the lack of visibility were among other things cited.
To justify this change in the attendance pool, which was received “like a slap in the face” by the parents concerned, the organization then specified that Right that she had learned at the very last moment from a citizen that an area located north of Aylmer Road (Morley-Walters Road) had been recognized as an official school corridor by the City of Gatineau. The CSSPO was then forced to change its plans.
Sandra Najar, Julie Foster, Benoit Bourque and Amanda Assi, parents of the Cavaliers school, whom Le Droit met last November.
(Etienne Ranger/Le Droit Archives)
“We were not aware of it, we were not brought into the loop,” said CEO Nadine Peterson at the time. “Our forecasts for our initial project had just stumbled, because we did not have this data. It played a nasty trick on us.”
Countless steps for months
Throughout the school year that just ended, this group of parents, who mainly live on Félix-Leclerc and Jean-Gascon streets, have been hounding the CSSPO, looking for answers to their questions. Saying they are ready “to fight until the end,” they have also taken various steps in parallel, including filing a complaint with the Regional Student Ombudsman, who, according to them, made eight recommendations.
From the start of the procedures, requests for exemption aimed at remaining at the same school in 2024-2025 were made for a total of 43 students, a procedure which was accepted for 40 of them, specifies the grouping.
However, as such a request must be repeated every year and the response depends on the evolution of the clientele, it is only a half-victory, think the parents, who do not intend to give up any time soon.
The Notre-Dame building of the Rapides-Deschênes school, which must undergo major renovations forcing its complete temporary closure within a few years. (Simon Séguin-Bertrand/Le Droit Archives)
“Rapides-Deschênes is already overstaffed with our children in second and third cycles, there is already no more space, so they granted us approval for the request to change schools. To please us, they accepted us all into Cavaliers, except the three children who are in the first cycle, where there is no surplus, claims Amanda Assi, mother of the family. This goes against everything we’ve been told from the start. The Notre-Dame building (which may eventually undergo major renovations) is not even closed yet and there is already a surplus. We have a big problem.”
“Just the tip of the iceberg”
La Gatinoise goes on to say that the group was told “in a polite manner” by the school service center that these exemptions were granted “to silence (them).
“It is not won, our battle is just the tip of the iceberg, because they say it is just for this year, we will have to apply every year. The CSSPO is trying to make people believe that our problem is solved for good,” she denounces.
Another inconsistency according to the group: the Police Department of the City of Gatineau (SPVG) would have contradicted the CSSPO’s claims by concluding that the route to the other school (Rapides-Deschênes) is not safe. Morning and evening bus service for this small number of students would cost $40,000 per year, according to the response obtained by parents to a request for access to information.
“It makes you wonder where common sense is, when you think that you are walking to go to Cavaliers (the children’s current school),” notes Ms. Assi.
Primary school 037, whose construction is being completed and which will welcome its first students in two months. (Patrick Woodbury/Archives Le Droit)
This is without taking into account the fact that data provided to parents indicates that the new 037 school will not exceed 50% of its capacity during the first five years after its opening.
Recommendations
Parents state that the Student Ombudsman recommends that the CSSPO “review the communication methods with the City of Gatineau in order to ensure that information relevant to decisions made by school governance bodies is available in a timely manner.” The organization would also recommend that the CSSPO discuss with the municipal administration the means to be taken to improve security on Robert-Stewart Road in the event that security issues are detected.
At the same time continuing to question the reasons for not granting it the status of a school corridor, the group reiterates that the path is cleared of snow, deforested and that from the end of rue Félix-Leclerc, one can see school and Aylmer Road, especially when the weather is good.
“We meet the criteria. The city councillor (Anik Des Marais), who is also fighting for us, asked us to file a complaint with the city’s ombudsman. We also made several requests for access to information. […] The request for a school corridor (north of Aylmer Road) was granted within a month, explains Ms. Assi. And in 2018, an analysis on Morley-Walters revealed that (the path) Castelbeau was very dangerous. It still is, the kids are going through it.”
The school transportation service will be offered to the students concerned from these streets if they have to go to the Rapides-Deschênes school since the police authorities have deemed the journey unsafe. (Simon Séguin-Bertrand/Archives Le Droit)
A majority of the students walking in this area are also driven to school by their parents, Amanda Assi points out to support her comments.
Other school corridors, for example near Gatineau Park for the Jean-de-Brébeuf school, in the Hull sector, are also wooded and longer, the group points out.
A difficult quest for answers?
But beyond the city’s responsibility, these parents have several complaints to make to the CSSPO regarding the management of this file over the past nine months. They have had several contacts with the Ministry of Education since this spring to describe the situation that irritates them.
“It’s a series of irregularities on top of irregularities and it’s as if each time they justify themselves with new reasons. We arrive with proof, copies of letters. […] At the end of a meeting with the CSSPO, we were asked if we were going to take legal action. Why are we asked this? It’s a bit strange, says the group’s spokesperson. We continue. We are asking for corrections, we are asking for grandfather clauses which will protect our children, so that they complete their education at our school,” describes the mother.
This request, she claims, was refused on the pretext that the construction of housing near the school has not been completed, so that the population of the school area is most likely called upon to continue to grow in the years to come.
The Cavaliers school, located on Nancy-Elliott Street. (Patrick Woodbury/Le Droit Archives)
Among the many requests for access to information that have been made to the CSSPO by the parents, some have gone unanswered, others have been refused, so much so that the group says it has filed a complaint several times with the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec. Another example is a request made to obtain the recording of a meeting last November, to which the CSSPO initially responded that it was asking to take advantage of 10 working days more than the 20 required by law to provide a response. However, after the 30 days, they were told that the recording had been deleted, the parents claim.
“We intend to fight until Plan A is restored. We never thought we would have to fight to this extent, not at all. And certainly not against a public body that should be transparent. There is dissatisfaction, anxiety, procrastination, a lack of openness and communication, but also transparency,” she laments.
The spokesperson for the National Student Ombudsman, Pier-Olivier Fortin, indicates in reaction to this file that “for the sake of ensuring the confidentiality of the files entrusted to us and to maintain public confidence in our services”, the organization cannot confirm or deny receipt of a specific complaint.
