Displaced Mont-Bleu students could move to government complex
Nearly 1,500 students from École secondaire Mont-Bleu displaced after fire
The federal and provincial governments are working to solve the split schedule created at École Secondaire de l'Île to accommodate displaced students from Mont-Bleu, according to elected officials from the area.
Hull-Aylmer MP Greg Fergus and Hull MNA Maryse Gaudreault made the comments during a parent information meeting Wednesday organized by the Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l'Outaouais (CSPO).
É cole Secondaire Mont-Bleu was seriously damaged by fire caused by a lightning strike during the Sept. 21 tornado.
About 1,500 Mont-Bleu students will begin attending classes at de l'Île next week.
Students from École secondaire de l'Île will attending classes only from 1:10 p.m. to 5:34 p.m. while Mont-Bleu students will have classes from 8:34 a.m. to 12:49 p.m.
Gaudreault said this is a temporary solution and accommodation, possibly at the nearby Asticou Centre, is being negotiated with the federal government.
Fergus said senior officials at the Departments of National Defence, Public Safety, Public Service and Procurement Canada and the Treasury Board are all working on finding the solution.
"Over the short term there were not really any options that were available for Oct. 9. But over the medium term there are some options that could be available," Fergus said.
He said using the Asticou Centre, a large campus near Mont-Bleu used by the school board and the federal government, would still require work.
"If that were to happen we have to figure out where we're going to displace another 600 federal public employees," he said.
"How do you make sure that we can have the place properly arranged so students can go there?"
The CSPO said the negotiations are underway, but would not say whether the announcement would be weeks or months in the making.
In their previous communication to parents, they suggested the split schedule could last a year.
Tense meeting
Nearly 700 people attended the information session at CEGEP de l'Outaouais Wednesday evening.
The media weren't allowed inside, but several parents described it as tense.
Cheering and jeering could be heard through the auditorium doors.
Catherine Gagnon has been organizing parents against the split schedule and said the school board failed to consult parents or consider the impact on students.
"We wish we could've been proposing [ideas], but we've been kept in the dark. We've learned everything through the media," she said.
"I don't feel that they're real answers and I don't feel that we've turned every rock that should've been turned to find a real solution that would really help every children to have the education that they need in life."
The school board said the consultation happened through elected representatives and the principals.
Gagnon said giving the Mont-Bleu students their own school is the best solution.
Though since the change of schedule is days away and a firm announcement hasn't been confirmed, Gagnon said it may be "too little, too late."
While Jean-Francois Larue said he thinks some people need to take a step back and think of how to make the situation work, he added some questions weren't answered in the meeting.
"They need to work on their solutions in terms of security, they need to look at the timing," he said.
Caroline Sauvé, director general of the school board, said they heard parent concerns about the safety of students who will be walking home after dark.
"We had some discussion with the police, but we will look into it," she said.
As for students whose might have medical schedules that conflict with the later class schedule, Sauvé said they are asking parents to raise those concerns so they can be accommodated individually.