Back to school

Verdun schools were certainly no exception, as close to 1600 students got to meet again last year’s teachers and possibly new ones which they will have for this year.

Administrators were also busy. At Beurling Academy, Principal Chris Cyr, in her second year, along with VP’s Dona Bianchi and newcomer Veronica Johnson, and administrative officer Andrew Henry, welcomed around 970 students to another year of higher learning and also hosted a Secondary 1 BBQ welcome lunch, and the hotdogs were great. Even the teachers were decked out with bright burgundy ‘staff’ t-shirts.

At Verdun Elementary, Principal Joanne Brady-Merola, in her fourth year, had the pleasure of welcoming back around 300 students including those in the pre-k and of course helping those with first-day jitters in the kindergarten level or newcomers to the school.

At Riverview, celebrating their 80th anniversary this year, the veteran of our local principals, Myriam Rabbat in her 6th year and 5th full year was also on hand to greet about 310 students, and speaking of Riverview, look out for a major announcement in this paper next week. We must also not forget Sylvie Monette is the new VP for both schools and will be splitting her time between both. So to all students, have a great year.

It is also the evening when a general assembly of parents is held to hold elections for a new governing board, which according to the Education Act, must be held by September 30th each year. Failure to do so, the Principal assumes the powers of the GB. The GB has powers in matters of local governance such as: a school uniform, code of conduct, the local school budget, approving field trips, etc. The parents also elect a parent-rep to represent the school at the Sector 1 parents committee, which deals with matters more regional in nature.

The evenings for the following schools are: this Thursday, Sept.6th at Riverview at 6:15 p.m. and on Thursday the 20th, both Verdun Elementary and Beurling Academy will be holding their evenings.

At BA, the elevator was finally repaired, the gym floor was refurbished, and digital surveillance cameras were installed, but, of course, we can’t tell you where.