Fire melts ice between two neighbouring schools

One week after a fire evacuated their school and left it closed pending three months of extensive repairs, more than 1,000 students from the Polyvalente Lavigne High School in Lachute have been split into three groups – including one that will be attending night classes.

Students began school again on Thursday, September 29, with secondary one and two students attending classes at La Parallel School during normal daytime hours, while secondary three, four and five students share space at the Laurentian Regional High School and attend classes when the anglophone school is closed for the day.

“We issued the invite to them to use our facilities,” said Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board commissioner Robert Dixon. He said the priority of the school board is to look after the needs of its students first and ensure that regular class schedules and after-school activities remain unaffected by the influx of nearly 600 new students.

The silver lining to this tragedy has been the formation of new relationships between two neighbouring schools that share sports fields and cultural venues, but which rarely share conversations and friendships.

“I think this is going to go a long way to bring closer cooperation between the two schools and I think this is a monster step towards that,” said Dixon.

Cultural and linguistic differences, combined with the fact that the schools are run by two separate boards, means that Polyvalente Lavigne and Laurentian Regional are run completely autonomously of each other. It leaves little interaction between teachers and students, despite the fact that the schools are only a few short steps apart.

In order to bridge the distance in preparation for the new sharing of space, students at LRHS were busy baking for the new students from Polyvalente Lavigne, while the teachers from the two schools had their first-ever barbeque together on September 28, the day before night classes began.

LRHS principal Christina Shousha initiated the event and explained that everyone was relieved to be unaffected by the fire and sympathetic to the students and staff at their neighbouring school.

“Maybe a lot of good will come from this,” she remarked, adding there was excitement in the air as everyone prepared for the arrival of the new students and teachers.

During the meet-and-greet session, Polyvalente Lavigne dance instructor Anouk Michaud said she has been a teacher for 12 years and had never interacted with the neighbouring school before.

“It’s my first time stepping foot on this side,” she said. “It’s like two different worlds. They have been very compassionate and helpful. For me, it introduced new projects. I have 1,000 costumes that were saved from the fire and I think this accident might open positive doors for us to share some of our ideas and resources.”

Most teachers from both sides were quick to remark on the differences and similarities between the two schools and the possibility for future collaborations. One teacher from Polyvalente Lavigne said she was struck by the fact that many of her students go on trips to New York to learn to speak English, without realizing the potential next door.

Despite new friendships and support from the entire community, the coming days may prove difficult for the Polyvalente Lavigne students and their families. Attending night school between 3:30 and 9:30 p.m. means many children will see little of their families.

Doubling the normal operating hours of a school is no simple matter and requires extensive cleaning, scheduling and preparation. Extra keys were made for classrooms, a new cleaning shift was organized and the lunchroom that usually serves four shifts was reorganized to serve two lunches and two evening meals.

In order to accommodate the students’ new schedule, the City of Lachute has extended municipal library hours and issued free library passes to all of the affected teens. City council is also investigating the possibility of opening the hockey arena during the day, to offer more ice time to the students.

Caisse Desjardins banks across Quebec will be putting charity boxes in their banks to raise money to repair the school, while local political and business leaders form committees to look into the health and well-being of the kids and their school.

Late hours and new bus schedules mean that drivers also need to be more vigilant: students will be walking home late at night and buses will be circulating at hours when most are already home sleeping.