Mayors urge big turnout at Oct. 6 EMSB info meet
Joel Goldenberg
September 29, 2010
The Suburban
Côte St. Luc mayor Anthony Housefather and Hampstead mayor Bill Steinberg and their councils have united to ask residents of their respective municipalities to attend an English Montreal School Board public information meeting 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Oct. 6 at Côte St. Luc city hall.
The meeting’s topic is a potential and unique public high school for Côte St. Luc, to fill a gap after Wagar High School closed several years ago.
“As you may be aware, the city council of Côte St. Luc and the town council of Hampstead have both supported the possibility of re-establishing a mainstream public high school at the former Wagar facility, thus allowing our residents and future residents the option of a public school education for their children at the high school level at a nearby facility,” says the letter, signed by Housefather and Steinberg. “While we have excellent private schools in the area, residents of our municipalities pay significant school taxes every year to support our public school boards and we should have a quality English-language high school to which residents can choose to send their children should they so desire.”
The two mayors are urging many to turn out for the meeting.
“The more people that attend expressing support for a quality public high school on our territory, the more likely it is that the EMSB will choose to establish one,” they wrote. “Moreover, the meeting will also provide an opportunity for parents of future high school students in Côte St. Luc and Hampstead to provide their input into what kind of high school they would like to see. Initial feedback has indicated there is interest in a school with a heritage-academic program — for example Judaic and Italian studies — as well as interest in a school with a sports concentration program.”
Housefather and Steinberg also pointed out the benefits of the Wagar facility, and added that a new school would be across the street (Parkhaven Avenue) from the Côte St. Luc gymnasium and the planned intergenerational aquatic centre, and close to Trudeau Park and the Samuel Moskovitch Arena.
“The EMSB Long Range Planning Committee is expected to make recommendations in March 2011 and we very much want them to recommend the re-establishment of a quality high school in our community,” the two mayors write.
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