English Montreal School Board

English Montreal School Board Commission scolaire English-Montréal
Location
6000 Fielding Avenue Montreal, Quebec Canada
District information
Schools	33 Elementary Schools 16 Secondary Schools 8 Outreach Schools 7 Social Affairs Schools 12 Adult and Vocational Centres[1]
Students and staff
Students	44,000[2]
Other information
Website	www.emsb.qc.ca

The English Montreal School Board (EMSB, French: Commission scolaire English-Montréal – CSEM) is one of five public school boards on the island of Montreal.

At 92.4 percent, the English Montreal School Board has the highest success rate among public school boards in Quebec. This success rate is only slightly lower than the success rate for private schools.^[3]

The EMSB is one of two English language school boards on the island of Montreal. Its territory consists of the 14 of the 19 boroughs of the city of Montreal (Saint-Laurent, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Montréal-Nord, Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Anjou, Saint-Léonard, Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extention, Outremont, Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Sud-Ouest, Ville-Marie, Plateau Mont-Royal, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve) as well as the municipalities of Montréal-Est, Mont-Royal, Côte-Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Montréal-Ouest and Westmount.^[4] English language public education in the western portion of Montreal Island is administered by the Lester B. Pearson School Board.

The Director General of the EMSB is Nicholas Katalifos,^[5] who is the school board's chief administrative officer.

Structurally, the EMSB has two Assistant Directors General: Pela Nickoletopoulos and Benoît Duhême. The school board also has three directors, each of whom oversees the elementary schools, high schools, and adult education and vocational centres, respectively.^[6]

EMSB Administration Building

The Administration Building of the EMSB is located at 6000 Fielding Avenue in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. The building was formerly occupied by the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (PSBGM).

History[]

The Government of Quebec reorganized the province's public school boards in the mid-1990s. School boards in Quebec had been organized along confessional lines, Catholic and Protestant, since before Canadian Confederation. The province of Quebec was guaranteed a confessional public school system by the British North America Act, 1867, now known as the Constitution Act, 1867. The provincial government was therefore required to ask the federal government to amend the Canadian Constitution if it were to reorganize school boards along linguistic lines (English and French). The amendment was passed by both the House of Commons and the Senate, notwithstanding the unresolved constitutional debate between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

The EMSB officially began operations on July 1, 1998 after^[7] the English sectors of the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (PSBGM), the Montreal Catholic School Commission (CECM), the Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer and the Commission scolaire Sainte-Croix were amalgamated to form the EMSB.^[8]

The political infighting among the board's commissioners has received significant coverage in Montreal's English-language media, most notably the Montreal Gazette. This fighting, for the most part, had previously pitted Catholics vs. Protestants. That division has recently become much less significant, however. The harmonization of the previous boards' administrative policies as well as the debate over school closings due to declining enrollment have been especially inflammatory. In 2005, both the Montreal Gazette and the French-language tabloid Le Journal de Montréal printed a special series of articles denouncing alleged nepotism and graft in the province's public school boards. The Gazette's investigation focused almost exclusively on the hiring practices of the English Montreal School Board.

Enrolment in the English Montreal School Board's schools and centres continues to decline as it does in most English language public school boards in Quebec. This is a part of an ongoing decline which began with the enactment of the Charter of the French Language by the Québec government In 1977.^{[citation needed]}

Since the EMSB's creation in 1998, the board has closed 21 schools, most recently 2 elementary schools and 1 high school in 2020. The School Board's chairperson attributes the declining enrolment to Bill 101, families moving to cities with lower home taxes such as Laval, and the general decline in birth rates.^[9]

The EMSB had the highest voter turnout among all school boards in Quebec, with 18%.^[10]

In 2019, the EMSB said it would not enforce Bill 21, the Government of Quebec's proposed ban of public servants wearing religious symbols, stating that the board has never received a complaint from a parent or student about a teacher's religious symbol.^[11]

Political stands[]

The ESMB deployed efforts to persuade federal government to challenge de legality of Quebec CAQ government's 2021 Bill 96 for a ruling to the Supreme Court. A memo explaining the request exposed by the media during the federal general election of 2021 led to a political stunt regarding the denial the qualification of Quebec as a nation.^[12]

Chairs of the English Montreal School Board[]

• George Vathilakis 1997–1998 (Provisional Council)
• George Vathilakis 1998–2001
• John Simms 2001–2003
• Dominic Spiridigliozzi 2003–2007
• Angela Mancini 2007–2020
• Joe Ortona 2020–

Vice-Chairs of the English Montreal School Board[]

• Dominic Spiridigliozzi 1997–1998 (Provisional Council)
• Dominic Spiridigliozzi 1998–2003
• Elizabeth Fokoefs 2003–2007
• Sylvia Lo Bianco 2007–2014
• Sylvia Lo Bianco 2014–2018
• Joe Ortona 2018–2020
• Agostino Cannavino 2020–

List of EMSB Schools[]

This school board oversees 33 elementary schools, 16 secondary schools, 8 outreach schools, 7 social affairs institutions and 12 adult and vocational centres, in which over 44,000 students are enrolled.

Elementary schools[]

High schools[]

Adult Centres[]

Vocational Centres[]

Outreach schools[]

References[]

External links[]

• EMSB website (French – English)