Latest news with #QuebecEnglishSchoolBoardsAssociation
CTV News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
School officials question Quebec's new cellphone ban and civility code
Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville responds to the Opposition during question period at the legislature in Quebec City, Oct. 22, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot) The Quebec Ministry of Education has released its draft regulation outlining a complete ban on cellphones in schools, along with new civility rules for the province. In May, the government announced it would expand its cellphone ban by prohibiting students in elementary and high school from using their devices anywhere on school property. In addition to the ban, Education Minister Bernard Drainville also said students would have to follow a civility code and address teachers formally as 'sir and madame.' However, some education officials say that enforcement will be difficult amid budget cuts and believe the government should be focusing on more urgent matters. Joe Ortona, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association, questioned whether enforcement would lead to staff 'shortfalls.' 'With all due respect to the minister, his priority shouldn't be on ensuring that these rules get enforced. It should be on ensuring that we have adequate staff,' Ortona argued in a recent interview. 'Rome is burning, and the minister is coming out with rules about proper etiquette and formal ways to address people and a cell phone ban while we're dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts and what exactly that's going to entail.' According to the draft regulation, there are a few exceptions to the ban, including health reasons, special needs and for pedagogical use. Moreover, each school will have to decide what disciplinary measures to implement for students who contravene the new rules. Katherine Korakakis, the president of the English Parents' Committee Association of Quebec, said that the harmful effects of cellphones do need to be mitigated, but raised doubts about whether the ban is the right measure. 'From parents, what we've heard and what we've always advocated is taking away the cell phones without teaching children about the effects of sound cell phones becomes a punitive measure and doesn't do anything to address the crisis,' Korakakis explained. 'So now you're putting something in place that is not enforceable. There are not enough teachers on hand. There are not enough staff members on hand.' The ban was recommended by a committee of legislature members tasked with studying the impact of screen time and social media on youth. In an interim report published in April, the committee found that mobile devices were everywhere on school grounds, and it heard from specialists who said extending the ban could reduce students' screen time and encourage other activities, such as socializing. Korakakis added that parents have expressed concern about not being able to reach their children. 'We raised this with the ministry and explained that, for the English-speaking community, there are real concerns — like not being able to reach your child, especially for students with special needs who take public transit. The ministry told us that as long as phones are kept in lockers, it's not a problem. But they were already in lockers to begin with,' she said. The new rules come into effect in the fall. With files from The Canadian Press
CBC
18-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
School boards, staff slam Quebec for 'devastating' $570M budget shortfall
The Quebec government is under criticism for what school administrators are calling devastating cuts to the province's education system, which amount to $570 million less in funding for the upcoming school year. Teachers, parents and school principals are worried these budgetary restrictions could impact students' success and services offered to them. Joe Ortona, the president of the Quebec English School Boards Association, argues that this will make it impossible for school boards and service centres to stay true to their mission of educating students effectively. "We are completely shocked and devastated," Ortona said in an interview. "There is no way to be able to cut what the government is asking to cut. It is outright impossible. This will have an immensely detrimental impact on student success, without question." Ortona predicted that extracurricular activities, tutoring, arts programs and music programs will be on the "chopping block" across Quebec. He also added that these restrictions could mean fewer teachers, larger classrooms, more students falling behind and school closures if boards and service centres can't afford to keep them open. "The government is simply putting their mismanagement now on the backs of children's futures," he said. Jean-David Meunier, principal at François-Bourrin high school in Quebec City, said he had to re-read the letter he received from the Ministry of Education four times to make sure he hadn't made a mistake. "Every thousand dollars is important," Meunier told Radio-Canada. "We know we're in a difficult budgetary situation. But honestly, I didn't see that scenario coming." For his school of 575 students, he is being asked to work with several hundred thousand dollars less next year compared to the year that just ended. "It's going to be hard not to cut back on student services, because we're already being rigorous," said Meunier. "There's no fat." Drainville says school boards need to be more 'efficient' Bernard Drainville, Quebec's education minister, defended the government's position. Since 2018, the budget for schools has increased by seven per cent annually, he said, whereas this year the budget will increase by five per cent. "We will have to be more efficient with the money that's being spent, but at some point, school boards and [school service centres] need to respect the budget that they're given," Drainville told reporters on Wednesday, adding that over the past six years, the budget for education has increased by 58 per cent. Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents' Committee Association, said the budget shortfall will have an especially big impact on the most "vulnerable" students. She said some parents can afford for extra resources and tutors for their children, while for others, this isn't the case, making things "very stressful." Korakakis pointed out that parents already worry about student success and motivation. "How much more is this going to impede students staying in school?" she said.
Montreal Gazette
18-06-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Quebec defends $570M in cuts, tells schools to avoid reducing student services if possible
Facing a backlash, Education Minister Bernard Drainville on Wednesday defended Quebec's decision to slash education funding by $570 million, saying he has asked that the cuts be made without touching student services. English school boards and French school service centres warn the provincial cuts will directly affect elementary and high school students. But Drainville pushed back, saying the education system has seen 'record investment' in recent years and those running the province's schools must help bring budgets back into line. 'It's not that it won't be an effort — it will,' he told reporters in Quebec City. 'But after a 58 per cent increase in the education budget since 2018, we believe it's time to make that money work better.' He added: 'The directive I gave to school (officials) is to use money more efficiently, to respect the budget without touching student services — or at least as little as possible.' School officials estimated the cuts amounted to at least $510 million, with some suggesting it could reach $1 billion. Drainville said they're in the order of $570 million. The education budget is growing by five per cent this year, or by about $1.1 billion, the minister said. School officials expected budgets to rise by seven per cent, as they have in previous years. But Drainville said seven per cent annual growth is not sustainable. Since 2018, student enrolment grew by eight per cent, he said. Over that period, the number of teachers rose by 19 per cent, while the number of professionals such as speech therapists jumped by 15 per cent. Support staff, such as classroom aides, increased by 24 per cent. 'We're entering a phase where we have to be more efficient,' Drainville said. 'Yes, difficult choices will have to be made, but the goal is to protect student services as much as possible.' School officials say they were blindsided by Drainville's directive. 'All services will be affected by the cuts, and it will be impossible to fully maintain all services for students,' Dominique Robert, head of the Fédération des centres de services scolaires du Québec, said Monday. The organization represents French school service centres. English school boards issued a similar warning. Joe Ortona, chair of the English Montreal School Board, said more than 90 per cent of his board's budget goes to direct services and salaries. Ortona, who is also president of the Quebec English School Boards Association, added: 'They're essentially telling us to close schools, cut teachers, cut staff, have overcrowded classrooms, and just put the entire education system in disarray. It's indecent.' This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 2:34 PM.
Montreal Gazette
03-06-2025
- General
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: Bill 40 appeal shows the Legault government has learned nothing
By Whenever a new fracas erupts between the government of Premier François Legault and the anglophone community, Eric Girard, the minister responsible for relations with English-speaking Quebecers, is dispatched to try to patch things up. Recently, he admitted that new directives issued last summer that suggested eligibility certificates for education in English could be used to access health care in English were ' not our finest moment' and that he was 'disappointed' at how the whole saga played out. Previously, Girard acknowledged that tuition hikes for out-of-province students that disproportionately harmed Quebec's English universities had ruffled feathers, and he vowed to smooth things over. When he was appointed to the portfolio in 2022 after the angst surrounding the adoption of Bill 96, Quebec's update of protections for the French language, Girard promised to allay fears and 'do better.' 'When I say we need to do better, I mean we need to improve relations,' he told The Gazette back in the early days of his tenure. But time and again, these prove to be empty promises. Because actions speak louder than words. And even though it was less than a month ago that Girard called for the latest reset, the Legault government has demonstrated the depth of its contempt for the rights of English-speaking Quebecers anew by announcing its intention to appeal the latest ruling on Bill 40 all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada (if the top court agrees to hear it, that is). The attempt to abolish English school boards and replace them with service centres was one of the first bones of contention between the anglophone community and the Legault government after it was first elected in 2018. The Quebec English School Boards Association launched a constitutional challenge of the law immediately after its passage and has since won two resounding victories. Both Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeals have agreed that Bill 40 is a violation of Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and affirmed the rights of the English-speaking minority to manage and control its own schools. Both courts have categorically said that transforming school boards into service centres like their francophone counterparts, centralizing many of their decision-making powers in the ministry of education, and axing the elected councils of commissioners run counter to those constitutional guarantees. But the Legault government is forging ahead trying to defend the discredited law. At this point, there is no principled reason to drag this out — and no pragmatic imperative, either. Quebec's English school boards obtained an injunction in 2020, keeping them intact for the duration of the legal proceedings. For five years they have continued to operate as they always have, overseen by elected representatives from the community, alongside French service centres. At this point the government's argument that it can't have two different systems for running French and English schools doesn't really hold water. In fact, there is growing concern that francophone service centres, administered by parents drawn from local school governing boards, lack transparency and accountability. And since Bill 40 was adopted five years ago, Education Minister Bernard Drainville has grabbed even more authority from service centres, like the power to appoint their directors general and overturn their decisions. The English school boards have already proven their management and control rights — twice. But the Legault government just won't let it go. Are they gluttons for punishment? Or is this merely a continuation of the pattern of antagonizing the English-speaking community? So often over two mandates in office, the premier or his ministers say one thing and do another. Legault claimed nothing would change for anglophones under Bill 96, yet there has been major upheaval. English colleges now have quotas for francophone and allophone students and new French course requirements, which has left them destabilized. English versions of government and public websites now have warnings about who is allowed to consult the content, which is an insult to intelligence. English court documents and decisions must be accompanied by French translations, which are costly and time-consuming, impeding access to justice. And these are just a few examples. The rights of anglophones are either complete afterthought or collateral damage. A year ago, when new rules on simultaneous translation of court judgments came into effect, a Quebec Court judge on the verge of presiding over an English criminal trial had to convene representatives of the prosecution service and attorney general's office to get basic information on how this was supposed to work. He was essentially told there was no plan and things were still being figured out. For his efforts, he was the subject of a complaint to the judicial council for overstepping his authority. He was later totally exonerated. His decision declaring the new regulations inoperable for English criminal trials is being appealed, however. The list of slights goes on and on. Yet concerns are frequently dismissed as the rantings of 'angryphones' acting like the world's most spoiled minority — until the government gets egg on its face over something truly ludicrous. Whether it's having to intervene on the Go Habs Go fiasco, override a library's decision not to allow an English book club to meet without simultaneous translation or rewriting the confusing health directives, each incident erodes trust. If Girard was at all serious about wanting to rebuild confidence with English-speaking Quebecers, there was one, simple, concrete gesture the government could have made that would have gone a long way and meant a lot in laying the groundwork for a truce: not appealing the Bill 40 ruling to the Supreme Court. Instead, the Legault government couldn't resist fighting a losing battle to the bitter end.
