History from Bedford School is a horror story.
Shouting at students, insulting them, pushing one, pulling on the other’s ear, hitting the desk with a ruler, class in the dark, the list of teachers’ excesses takes us back to the 1950s.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg of a drama that has been brewing for years.
Those described as the “dominant clan” of the Bedford School imposed a veritable reign of terror there.
We could see this as an isolated case, if we didn’t already know that three other schools in Montreal seem to be in the same situation.
Reading the investigation report submitted to Minister Bernard Drainville reveals the most shocking observation of all.
The Bedford School embodies everything that is wrong with schools in Quebec.
Ideology?
The investigators are very careful not to make this a cultural problem.
The teachers of the “dominant clan” are mainly North African, but North African teachers have also led the charge against them.
And yet, between the neighborhood’s Muslim Cultural Center, which got involved in the conflict, and attempts at “intercultural” mediation, including teachers who insist on speaking Arabic among themselves and teaching according to the methods of their country of origin. , the observation is clear.
This toxic conflict was born, yes, from a clash of ideology. The clash between the ideology of teachers who integrated into Quebec society and those who refused to do so.
Unionism
The tragedy of the Bedford school is also that of a hard core which took control of a school, its union bodies and its governing board.
Complain, we would have told the teachers struggling in this toxic climate.
They did it. The Montreal Teachers’ Alliance referred them to their local authorities.
Worse, the Alliance came to the defense of toxic teachers, invoking their professional autonomy!
As is often the case, the union engaged in unionism rather than protecting all of its members.
The bureaucracy
And the management? Faced with behavior that should have been the subject of disciplinary measures, “management had to choose its battles” so that interventions were limited.
We don’t blame them, the directors who took turns in this school were helpless given the scale of the problem and the lack of support.
Because the CSSDM does not have a stellar record either. Complaints were minimized, action plans poorly followed.
The mantra seemed to be to appease rather than confront the problem, for fear of being accused of racism.
What about the children during this time?
Their parents trust the school too much to complain. They receive a mediocre education from incompetent teachers whom the machine has neither the time to evaluate nor the means to sanction.
Looking forward to the minister’s intervention in Bedford.
There are already fears that three other schools in Montreal are in the same situation. We bet they’re not the only ones.