A private primary school in Victoriaville likely to lose its license has been the subject of several complaints to the Ministry of Education in recent years from members of its staff. Former employees blame the management style of its general director, which is said to be the source of poor working conditions. Allegations that the main interested party rejects.
Opened around thirty years ago, the Zig Zag International Academy, managed since then by its general director and founder, Gloria Danella, has seen its number of preschool and primary school students increase from around forty at the beginning of the years. 2000 to some 220 today spread across two buildings. The private school, which is subsidized by the Quebec state as a non-profit organization, is however under the radar of the Ministry of Education, which renews its permit for a restricted period of one year at a time. since 2022, noted The duty. A treatment generally reserved for private schools where anomalies have been detected by the government.
In its latest annual report, which deals with the 2022-2023 school year, the Consultative Commission on Private Education (CCEP) also indicated that it had received “several complaints” relating in particular to “dissatisfaction among teaching staff in relation to to the organizational climate of the school as well as to working relationships and conditions.
“In the circumstances, the Commission wonders whether the management staff really have the necessary skills to ensure good management of the establishment,” added the organization. It then recommended that Quebec not renew the permit of this private school because of its “reasonable doubt about the skills of the management team in place”.
Complaints to the ministry
Joined by The duty, the Ministry of Education indicated that it had received, since 2021, five complaints from the staff of this private school, in particular on “the working conditions, the management of the establishment” as well as “the offer of services to customers”. Quebec still renewed the permit for this establishment last year until June 30, 2024.
As for the possibility that this school can welcome students at the start of the fall school year, an official decision will be sent to the establishment in June, indicates the ministry.
The president of the Federation of Private Education Personnel (FPEP-CSQ), Stéphane Lapointe, is for his part categorical: the board of directors of this school must take the necessary measures to change school management, the light of this “devastating” report. The FPEP-CSQ also confirms that several grievances have been filed in recent years concerning questions of harassment, remuneration, right to privacy and respect for the collective agreement. Some of these grievances are still active.
“The board of directors must do its part job and that he appoints managers who can regularize the situation with the ministry to ensure the maintenance of services to students and also the maintenance of jobs” in this school, whose future is threatened, maintains Mr. Lapointe, in an interview with Duty. “If we maintain this direction, we are heading into a wall,” he emphasizes.
The chairman of the establishment’s board of directors, Samuel Vaillancourt, did not want to comment on the criticism of the management because of the “duties of reserve and confidentiality” that he must respect.
Problems “resolved”, according to management
Joined by The duty on May 8, Gloria Danella affirmed for her part that the “issues” raised in the CCEP report were circumstantial to the year in which its last annual report was written and have since been “resolved”.
She indicates in particular that the replacement of administrative employees who had “left” at the start of the pandemic “because they did not have a salary” proved complex, which made the management of the establishment more difficult. for a certain time. Work to expand the school was also underway when the CCEP produced this report, a project which disrupted the start of the 2022 school year and which caused its share of complaints from employees, says Mme Danella.
“It was noisy, the teachers had headaches, it’s true. But we couldn’t change that. We had to wait for the construction to finish,” adds the general director, who specifies that this project is now finished.
As for grievances filed by employees feeling wronged in respect of their working conditions, Mr.me Danella says none of these files are “problematic.” “We are in the process of resolving all our grievances,” adds the one who rejects the comments of the FPEP-CSQ according to which the management of this school must change.
“I don’t know why there would be an organizational problem with management and teachers complaining when I have people who have resigned [d’autres écoles] to come here when they were permanent [dans des écoles] public,” she says.
In the two weeks following this interview with Mme Danella, The duty has been made aware of other allegations which have been added to this report. The general director, however, declined our request for an interview to give her the opportunity to comment on them.
“It’s like going back 50 years”
In the last few weeks, The duty spoke with five teachers who worked at the Zig Zag International Academy in recent years, as well as with a former manager and parents whose children studied at this school before being removed. All point the finger at the management style of the general director, which is said to be the source of a tense work climate that has led to significant staff turnover in recent years.
“Apart from two or three teachers who have been there for a long time, people don’t stay and often don’t finish the year,” confides a woman who taught at this private school for only a few months before resigning — right in the middle. the middle of a school year — because management’s iron-fisted control over her work had made her “extremely unhappy.” This source, like most of the people cited in this article, requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from his former employer.
“It’s like going back 50 years. The child must not move, he must have fun; he has to write from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m., this teacher emphasizes. There is no room for pleasure. »
The teachers contacted indicate in particular that the students’ report cards were scrutinized by the management, while the classes were closely monitored, the students having to have impeccable behavior, in class and in the corridors, report several former employees who attended this establishment between 2012 and 2022.
“She would like the children to sit straight in their chair for 60 minutes, hands on the desk, without speaking,” says Patricia L’Heureux, referring to the general director. Mme L’Heureux worked at this school from March to June 2021. Her contract was not subsequently renewed, because the management of the establishment did not judge that the teacher was “disciplined enough with the students” , she confides. “We didn’t have the right to say what we think,” continues the woman who has since left the teaching profession.
A “controlling” management
“Mme Danella had chaotic ways of doing things,” confides a special educator who worked in this school from October 2021 to May 2022. “I was given 10 minutes to meet a student, no more,” says the lady, who did not feel “free in [ses] interventions” in this establishment, where her child studied for a year before being enrolled in another school in Victoriaville. “We had to have absolutely everything approved,” adds the one who describes the general director of the Zig Zag International Academy as “controlling”.
In an interview, Gloria Danella asserts that the departures of employees which have taken place in recent years in her school have occurred in the context of “sick leave” which has sometimes been prolonged. Otherwise, her school team is stable, she says. “All my teachers now are permanent” and have already announced that they will be in post at the next school year, she notes.
“What I heard and what I saw is that this year, things are going well,” says a current employee of the Zig Zag International Academy, who said she was “surprised” by the conclusions of the CCEP annual report. “For my part, I have nothing to report. »