Concerns over future of Villa Maria school

Parents and local officials are raising concerns about the future of Villa Maria school.

Villa Maria first opened in 1854. The sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame created a bilingual boarding school for girls.

Nearly 175 years later, the school still plays a key role in the community.

“It’s really a part of Quebec history. It’s not only the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighborhood,” Marie-Pierre Bousquet, a parent whose child attends Villa Maria College, said.

The Congregation of Notre-Dame owns what is called the Villa-Maria estate. A large piece of land located west of Mount Royal.

Villa Maria school leases buildings on this land, but the congregation wants to sell the property in 2031. One year after Villa Maria’s lease ends.

Parents are concerned about where Villa Maria will go or if the school can even continue to exist.

“We’d like to get involved and see everybody working together to secure the future of a great establishment,” Christophe Deckers, a parent whose child attends Villa Maria, said.

“I don’t know anyone that doesn’t want to keep Villa open,” he continued.

CTV News reached out to Villa Maria for an interview, but school officials did not want to comment.

No one from the congregation was available to speak with CTV News, but the congregation says it informed the school of its intention to sell 7 years before the end of the lease.

Local MNA Désirée McGraw hopes the nuns can negotiate.

“Right now, the position they have taken is essentially a death sentence for Villa Maria, which is a pillar of our community. It’s a great success story,” McGraw said.

The other major concern is who would buy this land? And if it is a developer, what will happen with the green space?

“We need this property to continue to serve the community, for Villa Maria to stay here,” she said.

McGraw plans on sponsoring a petition at the National Assembly to push for Villa Maria to stay open.

“If we can do something as parents, please ask us, because we have goodwill, we have good intentions,” Bousquet said. “We cannot believe that [this] is going to happen.”