English Montreal School Board elections just a week away

The English Montreal School Board election is one week away, and CityNews spoke to the candidates about their respective platforms.

In the running are current EMSB Chair Joe Ortona, and Katherine Korakakis, the head Quebec’s English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA).

Ortona, who ran unopposed in 2021, says he took over at the lowest point in the EMSB’s history.
He says he has improved many metrics, including surpassing the private sector with a 95.9 per cent graduation success rate.

“We have the highest success rate in the province of Canada. Quebec, we surpassed the private sector last year, which is no small feat,” said Ortona.

“It even exceeded, all of the standards that we had set for ourselves that the ministry had set.”

“So the educational success rates is fantastic” said Korakakis. “And I’m really proud of our students and our teachers. However, you can have the success rate with a 60 per cent, right?”

Korakakis says the focus should be on subject matter mastery, especially in French and math.

“So what we’re saying is we need to improve the grades in subject matter mastery. One notable one is Francais Langue d’Enseignement. Only 10 per cent of EMSB students write that exam. And that’s the equivalent exam across the French schools, right? Ten per cent. We need to do more. Again, working with our professionals at the school board to create more programs to get the amount of students writing that French exam higher,” said Korakakis.

“I’m well positioned with my experience, in a variety of community settings. We’ve had people that have been around that table for a very long time and change is also good.”

Mental health was also an issue on the candidates’ minds.

“So it’s not about intervention, but a proactive approach to promoting mental health and equipping our students with the tools and equipment,” said Korakakis. “Whatever they need to manage stress and anxiety. This isn’t just about addressing a crisis. It’s also about fostering resilience and well being in our schools, and the time is now, we can’t keep waiting and really not enough is being done. So, my team and I really want to make this one of our core priorities.”

Ortona says the English School Board has addressed mental health in various ways.

“We have mental health specialists, we have anti-bullying and anti-violence programs within our schools. We have zero tolerance policies, and we have stress management programs. We have so many partnerships with mental health organizations like AMI Quebec, the Douglas Mental Health Institute, who offer workshops, seminars for students, for parents, for teachers. We have a student services helpline. We have multiple workshops on mental health awareness,” said Ortona.

In 2020 the CAQ government passed education reform legislation, Bill 40, that would see English school boards abolished and replaced with service centres run by non-elected officials. The bill was found to be in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a decision that was upheld in August by the province’s Superior Court. It’s one of many bills that English-speaking Quebecers have felt infringe upon their rights.

“I was there, I was a commissioner at the time when the government was implementing Bill 40 and Bill 21. Bill 21, we have even further amplified teacher shortage because we can’t hire teachers or promote principles on arbitrary restrictions, like whether they’re wearing a religious symbol, something that has no bearing on the quality of education that the students receive. With Bill 96, it’s again a further infringement of our language and our culture, the obligation that we must communicate even internally amongst ourselves, in French,” said Ortona.

Koakakis also says she’s been a part of the fight for the rights of their community.

“Whether it’s writing briefs and presenting at the National Assembly, whether it’s organizing thousands of people to march in May of 2022 against Bill 96, and whether it’s writing letters, whatever it is. Every contribution matters and works to affect change,” said Korakakis.

Korakakis has a business background, helping to grow and fund startups for over 20 years. Ortona’s background is in criminal law; he was a prosecutor for the City of Montreal for many years.

“We want to make sure that all of the in class resources are available and that we’re keeping up with the times and the technology and continue to improve and provide all of those resources in all of our facilities,” said Ortona.

“It’s about ensuring that our buildings are kept in great shape. We have some buildings that are over 100 years old. Westmount Park, for example, we had to move the students up for two years to do a complete overhaul of the structure of the building. It costs over 20 million and it took over two years to do. So all of those things show that we’re dedicated to improving.”

“I think that my experience in the settings will add value but also my experience as a parent and as a mother and being around those tables,” added Korakakis. “It’s important to have that understanding. I talked to parents every day, all day. And I have been for eight years in a variety of settings. I represent parents nationally. I sit on government boards where I talk about English-speaking parents’ needs.”

Eligible voters will get a card in the mail instructing them where to vote. Advance voting is on Sunday and election day is Sunday, Nov. 3.