There will soon be two new elementary schools in the downtown Montreal area, part of a bid to keep families from moving out of the city to the nearby suburbs.
One of the new schools will be homed in what used to Academie Bourget on De La Montagne and will feature two pre-school classes and 12 elementary classes. According to the government, the building will require $20 million in renovations.
The other will be built from scratch on vacant land next to the Grey Nuns residence on St. Mathieu and will house four pre-school classes and 24 elementary classes. The new school will cost more than $50 million to construct.
Combined, the two schools will take in about 1,000 students.
Westmount Mayor Christina Smith said that with few other options, already existing elementary schools in the downtown area, like Ecole St. Leon de Westmount, are operating above capacity.
Montreal School Board President Catherine Harel-Bourdon said the two new schools are much needed in the area.
“There’s a lot of new families from immigration and from residential development,” she said. “We need those schools. We have a lot of children going by bus to St. Leon de Westmount or to Annexe Charlevois in the Southwest borough.”
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante was also enthusiastic about the new facilities, saying they will help not only attract new families, but keep current ones from moving away.
“We want our families to stay here, that’s what we’re encouraging and that means more schools,” she said.
The schools won’t just be new, but world-class, promised Quebec Education Minister Sebastien Proulx.
No date has been set for when the schools will open, but the provincial government said they expect them to open their doors in three to five years.
