Community members in Cote-des-Neiges are asking what comes next for students of an elementary school that has been at the centre of a political and media firestorm.
Eleven teachers at Bedford elementary, a French public school in west-central Montreal, were suspended after the Education Ministry published a report alleging that a group of teachers there had for years created a toxic atmosphere.
The report alleges teachers excessively punished and verbally demeaned students, and would not allow specialized resources for students with learning disabilities in the classroom, because the teachers didn’t think those disabilities were valid.
The allegations hit a nerve with Veronica Jane Bertiz, the director of advocacy with Kapwa, a community group that works with Filipino youth in the neighbourhood.
“When you are a child, you think of the adults as the people who have their stuff together, and who you can always ask for help,” she said. “In this case, we have severely failed them.”
The government report concludes that the school service centre in charge of Bedford, the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), “lost sight of what was going on” at the school and didn’t do enough to correct it.
That has Bertiz and others in her community wondering what support is coming for both current and past students.
“What type of damage have they experienced? The academic confidence, the confidence in institutions — is it still there?” she said.
Finding a way forward
In a statement to CBC News, the CSSDM says it is working to reach all parents of students who have passed through Bedford since 2017, and has brought in multiple psychological resources for students still enrolled.
It said it would communicate with parents in French, which it says “contributes to their integration into Quebec society,” or English, if needed, but would not explore options for translation or interpretation in other languages.
The Education Ministry’s report notes that many parents of children at the school are not fluent in English or French.
The service centre has also set up a phone number and email address that anyone can use to file a complaint arising at any of its schools.
Bertiz isn’t sure these efforts are enough.
“I try to be an optimistic person,” she said. “But given their history … it’s hard to give my full confidence to them.”
She says that community groups like hers, whose sole mandate is to cater to the mental health needs of young people, should be more involved in processes like this.
Community discussion
Some local community groups are planning larger discussions around the events that took place at Bedford elementary.
“All of the parents [will] have a safe space to speak about the issues that were brought up here,” Ayanna Alleyne, board chair of the Cote-des-Neiges Black Community Association, said of a community meeting planned for the coming weeks.
Ayanna Alleyne said her organization is planning a community meeting for parents who send their kids to the school. (Cassandra Leslie/Ciel Photo)
Alleyne has also invited representatives from Bedford to take part in the group’s Strengthening Families Program, which works with social workers, families, students and schools.
“We are going to follow up to ensure that parents are advised of what is happening and the options that they have available,” she said.
Political fallout
Some community members in Cote-des-Neiges are also keeping a close eye on the political discussion around the events at Bedford.
Parti Québécois (PQ) Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the situation at Bedford highlights the “problem of religion entering into our schools” and Premier François Legault said on social media that the suspended teachers were working “to introduce Islamic religious concepts in a public school.”
Idil Oumalker Kalif is a sociologist, community worker and a member of the non-profit Philo Boxe, located in Cote-des-Neiges. She says there are more productive ways to address what happened at Bedford.
Idil Oumalker Kalif says better and more resources for schools is how to get to the root of the problem. (Rebecca Ugolini/CBC)
“Look at the roots. Right now, to me, it feels like we’re talking out the leaves. But talking about the roots is [talking about the] budget, the resources, the quality of the classroom,” Kalif said.
“That’s the conversation I’m interested in. Because that’s the conversation that will [prevent] this from happening again.”
She wants to ensure that the result of the report isn’t political debates being conducted “on the heads of young people.”
Another advocate worries that the political conversation surrounding Bedford could stop parents from coming forward with their concerns.
“We’re dealing with an immigrant population. Parents and families are now faced with this huge controversy. They feel afraid, afraid of being scapegoated,” said Fo Niemi, the director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) which has also been reaching out to families.
Niemi says children’s well-being should be what the government prioritizes in its investigations.