Quebec grants a three-year reprieve to the Collège des Hauts Sommets, a specialized private school in Saint-Tite-des-Caps which came close to closing due to financial concerns.
The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, announced Tuesday morning aid of $2.4 million over three years for this college located in the MRC of La Côte-de-Beaupré.
On site, the elected official recounted meetings with parents of students who stressed that “the college made THE difference” in their lives. “There are even parents who told me: the college saved my child,” he stressed.
In February, The duty reported a letter signed by 30 public figures, including former prime ministers Pauline Marois and Philippe Couillard, to demand that the Collège des Hauts Sommets remain active. The school accommodates 103 students, including 98 boarders. Almost all (96%) of students have intervention plans in place to overcome their academic challenges. Half of them (51%) arrive at this school with academic delays; 15% to 20% have an autism spectrum disorder.
The solution announced Tuesday does not resolve the college’s longer-term funding problems. “We have three years ahead of us to find permanent solutions that will ensure the long-term survival of the establishment, and I am confident that we will succeed. We have to get there. The children who come here deserve this. We will find a way,” assured Minister Drainville.
Caught in administrative mazes
The Collège des Hauts Sommets has been in a difficult financial situation since the early 2000s. In 2003, it became a cooperative, and staff members have invested, over the years, $10,000 each in the mission of the establishment.
One thing led to another and the establishment transformed itself into a specialized school. The college is demanding the funding that accompanies this status, but for years has encountered the administrative maze of the Ministry of Education. In other words, “he fell[e] between the different little boxes that exist,” recognized Mr. Drainville. He was pleased to give, for the moment, “a horizon which will emerge [l’école] of urgency”.
The director of the college, Marc Charbonneau, was relieved but cautious. “We are both so close and so far from being able to sustain the mission. But in the coming months, we will be able to focus on this mission with peace of mind,” he said.
“I think we’ve taken a big step. The presence of the minister [Drainville] twice this year, what the Prime Minister said in the House, I cannot believe that we will not succeed. But we won’t give up, that’s for sure,” he promised.
Not one solution fits all
Minister Drainville said he sees two routes, in the long term, for the Collège des Hauts Sommets. « The definition of an establishment for HDAA students [handicapés ou en difficulté d’adaptation ou d’apprentissage]it is a definition which is standardized, [et] the Collège des Hauts Sommets does not fit perfectly within this definition,” he recalled. “So what we need to do is either change the definition to allow college to be included or create a category that will specifically address college. So, create a separate category for college,” he explained.
The Collège des Hauts Sommets is not the only specialized private college to find itself in a difficult financial situation due to the criteria of the Ministry of Education. The Centennial Academy in Montreal is, for example, funded from the English side only due to the rules in force at the ministry.
“I am aware of the fact that there are institutions which have very important missions, but whose personality does not fit with the established rules,” replied Minister Drainville when he was questioned about the financial problems of these schools specialized. He rejected the idea of a single solution to regularize these institutions. “We look at each situation separately. It is certain that our objective is to keep educational institutions open and therefore, to find as many solutions as possible that will allow us to ensure their future, but I do not want to make any commitment lightly. “, did he declare.