“We offer quality service in our schools,” argues a school service centre director in Outaouais. He invites parents who are thinking of sending their child to school in Ontario to “come and see everything we are doing to support students.”
Fully equipped training room, new outdoor terrace, carpentry workshop: Sieur-de-Coulonge secondary school has increased its range of services in recent years.
To promote the success of its students above all, but also to retain customers.
Wednesday, The Press reported that parents from Pontiac – and elsewhere – were sending their children to school across the Ottawa River, which is illegal1.
The availability of simplified school curriculum and sports and artistic activities were among the reasons given to explain Ontario’s appeal.
“There are great things happening here,” says Denis Rossignol, general director of the Hauts-Bois-de-l’Outaouais school service center.
An example? In recent years, the Sieur-de-Coulonge school has set up a second transportation service to allow students to participate in extracurricular activities after school.
With no public transport in the area, young people often had no way to get home. The number of elective courses also doubled.
School staff members even visit elementary schools in the area several times a year to help with the transition between the two levels and not lose students to Ontario.
Over the years, the efforts have finally become apparent. “Our graduation rates are increasing, our rates of leaving without a diploma are decreasing,” says Mr. Rossignol.
Few levers for school service centers
“It’s illegal,” recalled Education Minister Bernard Drainville, regarding students residing in Quebec who go to school in Ontario.
In a press scrum on Thursday, Bernard Drainville recalled that it was up to school service centres to ensure that children attend a school in Quebec.
“The RAMQ [Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec] makes a list of children who live in Quebec, transfers this list to the school service centers, and it is up to [eux] at that time to call the parents and tell them: according to the lists we received, your child should be registered in a Quebec school, he is not,” explained Mr. Drainville, adding that a reminder would be sent to the organizations.
School service centres have little control over the situation, argues Mr. Rossignol. “Once we’ve reported it, we no longer have any leverage,” he explains. “It falls into the hands of other ministries.”
1. Read the file “Their home in Quebec, their school in Ontario”