The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, assured Tuesday that he would “quickly” find a solution to help the Collège des Hauts Sommets, a specialized school in Saint-Tite-des-Caps threatened with closure.
“We are in constant communication with the school to find a solution to funding issues. We are taking care of it. We are working to quickly find a solution,” wrote Minister Drainville’s press secretary, Florence Plourde, in a short statement. She added that the minister had visited the school in the fall and was “well aware of the file and the importance” of the institution.
The duty reported Tuesday morning the precarious situation of the Hauts Sommets college, threatened with closure at the end of March due to funding issues. In total, 37 public figures, including former prime ministers Pauline Marois and Philippe Couillard, called on the current head of government, François Legault, in a letter to come to the aid of the private establishment. Their letter notably demands lasting funding for the college, which has been entangled in the maze of the Ministry of Education for years.
The three opposition parties urged the government to act to ensure the survival of the school. “I fully support the letter which was signed by several signatories. And we ask the government to ensure that the funding is there so that the institution can continue [sa mission] “, declared the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Marc Tanguay. He said “financing stabilization” was necessary. His colleague Marwah Rizqy thanked the former prime ministers for their involvement. “Mr. François Legault constantly tells us that education is his #1 priority. Can he then explain to us why it is more urgent and easier to obtain a grant for the Los Angeles Kings than to save a highly specialized school? “, she asked on the social network
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, of Québec solidaire, said that in “an ideal world,” the kind of services provided at the Collège des Hauts Sommets would be offered in the public network. “But at the moment, there is a terrible shortage of specialist services for children with learning difficulties. So, in this context, losing services, even if they are private, would be bad news for children and it is children who must be given priority,” he stressed. “So, pragmatically, yes, we think that there must be action from the government to protect these services, which help real children, in real life. »
At the Parti Québécois, leader Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon urged the government to “take care” of the issue. “If there are administrative mazes or bureaucratic issues, in the current state of things, we cannot afford to close this school and we are simply asking the government to take care of it. I don’t understand, it’s quite a difficult situation to explain, but I expect the government to take care of it,” he said.
Almost all (96%) of the students at Collège des Hauts Sommets have intervention plans put in place to overcome academic challenges. Half (51%) arrive at this school with academic delays; 15% to 20% have an autism spectrum disorder.