11 Montreal elementary school teachers suspended after toxic behaviour allegations

The largest school service centre in the province has suspended 11 teachers who have allegedly fostered a toxic climate in a Montrealelementary school.

Bedford elementary school, which is located in Montreal's west-central Cte-des-Neigesneighbourhood, is the subject of a 90-page government report. According to that report from the Education Ministry, those 11 teachers have spent years working as a "dominant clan" and spreading fear within the school whileintimidating students and staff.

The report mentions that these teachers punished students with learning disabilities simply because they didn't recognize those disabilities as legitimate. They're also alleged to have prevented support staff from entering classrooms and worked together to undermineschool management decisions.

The Centre de services scolaire de Montral (CSSDM), which oversees more than 111,000 students across 186 schools, issued a statement Saturday evening saying it had asked the elementary school to proceed with the suspension of the 11 teachers.

"This unprecedented move aims to restore, as quickly as possible, a healthy and safe environment for the students of Bedford and for the entire education community," the statement reads.

In the statement, the CSSDM says the suspensions were made possible by the fact that itsexecutive director, Isabelle Glinas, now knows the names of the teachers at the heart of the allegations, having received that information Thursday frominvestigation committees that weremandated by the province.

"Equipped with this new information, the CSSDM can now proceed with the suspensions," the statement reads.

Glinas and the school service centre have faced heavy scrutiny in recent weeks.

Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy, who is also the party's education critic, says Glinashas been too slow to address the issues within the school. Rizqy pointed out that the Education Ministry's 90-page report was not the first one that outlined those teachers' alleged behaviours.

She's accused Glinas of "willful blindness" and has called for her to step down.

During an interview on Sunday with Radio-Canada, Rizqy scoffed at the CSSDM's claim that Glinas only found out this week who the 11 teachers were.

"They already had the names," she said. "No one in Quebec will, for a second, believe that the employer did not know the names of the employees."

The Education Ministry's report stated that several staff members spoke up about the situation at the school on several occasions.

"Our analysis shows that those complaints weren't necessarily treated as formal complaints, and often times they were not followed up on by the school service centre," the report reads.

Glinas began her tenure as the CSSDM's executive director in February 2022.

Effect on students

The CSSDMsaysit has a plan to make up for the absence of the 11 suspended teachers.

"The substitute teachers, who have already been appointed, will have the necessary support to make sure the students' learning goes ahead normally," the CSSDM wrote in itsstatement.

It also said resource staff will be present in the school to supportstudents academically and psychologically.

The school service centre says the teachers' suspensions startMonday, and will last until the investigation committeeshas completed its work.

The CSSDM added that those committees are tasked withdetermining if the teachers "committed a serious fault in the exercise of the teacher's functions or an act derogatory to the honour or dignity of the teaching profession."

That is grounds for revoking a teaching licence, according to the province's Education Act.

In a message posted to X, Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville acknowledged the school service centre's decision to suspend the teachers.

"On our end, we'll continue to act with the tools at our disposal," Drainville wrote, adding that the investigative committee is still at work.

Two provincial government employees are at the school monitoring the situation and are expected to draft an action plan by the end of November.

Earlier this week, Drainville reiterated his trust in Glinas.

Three other schools with theCSSDMare being monitored by the provincial ministry for issues also related to a potentially toxic climate. Two of them are also in the Cte-des-Neiges neighbourhood: Saint-Pascal-Baylonelementary school and La Voie high school.

The third one, Bienville elementary school, is in the northeastern Saint-Michel neighbourhood.