Bickering among EMSB commissioners dominates Galileo hearing

Bickering between rivalfactions within the English Montreal School Board dominated hearings Thursday night about the future of the Galileo Adult Education Centre, with administrative staff of the board walking out mid-meeting.

The EMSB needs to provide space for the overpopulatedFrench-language Commission scolaire de Pointe-de-l'le(CSPI) and has offered Galileo,but Education Minister Jean-Franois Roberge saidthat facilitywas "insufficient."

The question of what the EMSB should do next has created deep acrimony among itscommissioners, which played out at the hearing.

Vice-chairJoe Ortona saidEMSB chair Angela Mancini andcommissioner Sylvia Lo Biancohave "sabotaged" the plan for Galileo and should resign, while Mancini countered thatOrtona's "antagonistic comments" have upset Robergeand put the entire process at risk.

The administrative staff walked out whenLo Bianco, whose district includes Galileo,prepared toreveal an internal email that she saidwas proof of collusion by the EMSB's director general, AnnMarie Matheson, and some board members to give up the school.

"In all my years of experience as a commissioner, and going through various cohabitations, school closures, etc., I've never seen a director general send a message like that to the council," Lo Bianco said.

Cohabitation could 'save our schools'

Mancini and Lo Biancoare pushing for a cohabitation plan that would share some buildingswith the CSPI, which they say is a good compromise.

"For me, the cohabitation model is a way to ensure our footprint in our community remains," Mancini said.

"If we have cohabitation,and we give the opportunity to the CSPI to look for land and to buildthen cohabitationbecomes a model in which we save our schools."

Robergehasthreatened the EMSB with the transfer of three different buildings General Vanier and Gerald McShane elementary schools and John Paul I junior high if they can't come up with a reasonable alternative.He'sgiven the board until June 10 to tell him what issues could arise from his proposal.

Ortona said Mancini and Lo Bianco "got the minister to say no to Galileo."

"And because of that we now have three schools we're going to lose."

Ortonasaidthe EMSB needs to fight harder against Roberge and defend the school board's right to make its own decisions about its facilities.

"Regardless of anybody's opinion on Galileo, the leadership of this board should have said, 'Mr. Minister, you're out of bounds, that's for the council to decide,'" Ortona said.

Mancini said challenging the government carries significant risks.

"A legal battle isn't guaranteed, and I'm not willing to play Russian Roulette with the lives of these students and the teachers and staff in these schools," she said.

She said the Education Act gives Roberge the ability to impose his ownsolution.

"He has powers right now, whether we like them or not, and that's what he's saying he's going to use."

The EMSBhas a vote planned for May 21 on the Galileo decision.

Parents inSaint-Lonard stage demo

Parents of students in the affectedEMSBschools said they are anxious to know where their children will be attending school in the fall.

Some protested outsideSaint-Lonardborough offices Friday afternoon to show their frustration.

"We don't know what's going to happen. We're very sad and overwhelmed," said parentHilda Castro.

Her son Leo, aged four, is registered to startpre-kindergartenat General Vanier next fall.

Those who have been watching theEMSB'smeetings online say the commissioners' public display of infighting doesn't help matters.

"I was disappointed because our goal is for our children and for the future, and if they don't have those same goals and values then there's something wrong," said another parent, VeronicaRavenda.

Two of the three schools Roberge has threatened to take away from the EMSB General Vanier Elementary and John Paul I Junior High are in Saint-Lonard.