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Parents say they’re concerned for their kids’ safety after a portion of the ceiling fell into the library of a Saskatoon francophone school.
It happened Monday at Pavillon Monique-Rousseau, the city’s only francophone elementary school.
No students were there at the time and no one was injured, the school said earlier this week.
Engineers inspected the library and determined there is no structural risk, but the library will remain closed until repairs finish, the school division, Conseil des Écoles Fransaskoises (CÉF), said in a Thursday morning email to parents. Engineering staff are now inspecting the entire building.
Dustin McNichol, who has two children attending Pavillon Monique-Rousseau, wrote a letter about the ceiling collapse to the education minister and the Opposition NDP.
“I am told by witnesses who saw the aftermath that the debris from the collapse would have been enough to seriously injure an adult or perhaps fatally injure a child,” McNichol said in a statement sent to CBC News.
“The library is now closed, making this the second time in three years that our children will be without a library at the school for an extended period of time.”
WATCH | Portion of ceiling collapses at Saskatoon French school:
Portion of ceiling collapses at Saskatoon French School
A portion of the ceiling fell into the library of Pavillon Monique-Rousseau — an elementary school in Saskatoon. Parents want confirmation of the building’s structural integrity.
McNichol said he wants to see an engineer’s report confirming the school is structurally safe and asked for a public inquiry into how the French school division has handled things like roof repairs, maintenance and other contracted work.
The CÉF confirmed a piece of ceiling fell into the library, but did not confirm the size of the ceiling fragment.
“The piece is a remnant of the old school and does not affect the building’s structure,” the CÉF said in a statement.
The Association des Parents Fransaskois has been talking about the building’s poor condition for several years. Its 2023 petition warned officials about the condition of the school and asked the province for a new francophone elementary school in Saskatoon.
Pavillon Monique-Rousseau briefly closed that year due to rain leaking into the building.
Former Sask. Party MLA Gordon Wyant, at left, stands below a hole in the ceiling of Pavillon Monique-Rousseau elementary school in a photo supplied by the Sask. NDP in 2023. (Submitted by Saskatchewan NDP)
McNichol said “bureaucratic squabbling” is putting students and staff in danger.
“When we ask the board to address these serious concerns, they blame the government for being underfunded; when we ask the government to work with the board, they blame the school board,” McNichol said.
“The right thing to do, for both the school board and the government, would be to fix the problem and put the safety of our children and teachers first.”
The education ministry did specifically address infrastructure issues at Pavillon Monique-Rousseau in a Jan. 12 statement, but said school maintenance is the responsibility of the school division.
“The Conseil des écoles fransaskoises (CÉF) has access to annual funding from the Ministry of Education through the Preventative Maintenance and Renewal Program (PMR) to address planned infrastructure maintenance renewal projects and costs for all schools,” the statement said.
The ministry’s response is word for word the same one it gave when a portion of the school’s ceiling collapsed in 2023.
The province has ignored problems at the school for years, the official Opposition said.
“They haven’t listened and they haven’t taken any action,” NDP MLA Matt Love said at a news conference on Thursday in Saskatoon.
“We have children and teachers entering schools where their health and safety are simply not protected.”
In August, the NDP obtained a report through a freedom of information request that found 13 schools were in “critical condition” and 132 were in “poor” condition, Love said.