Eastern Shores School Board or ESSB (in French, Commission scolaire Eastern Shores) is one of nine anglophone school boards in Quebec . ESSB is the largest anglophone school board in territory but the smallest anglophone school board in student population (1 289 students as of September 30, 2010) in Quebec. ESSB offers public school education in the eastern part of Quebec that includes the Magdalen Islands, Gaspe Coast, North Shore and the town of Fermont (administrative regions 01, 09 (section) and 11).

The school board's chief administrative officer is its Director General. The administrative body of the school board is the Council of Commissioners and is made up of the chairperson, eleven commissioners representing various wards within the school board's territory, and two non-voting parent representatives. The Council sets school board policy and gives the board its political direction. The public meetings are usually held the 15th of every second month during the day at the school board's administrative offices located at 40 rue Montsorrel, New Carlisle, Quebec. Members of the Council are elected every four years. The next election is expected to take place in the Fall of 2011.

History

In July 1971, the creation of the Regional School Board of Gaspesia amalgamated many of the small municipalities in the Gaspe Coast. In 1992, the Gaspesia-The Islands School Board was created that extended the existing territory plus the Magdalen Islands. On July 1, 1998, the creation of linguistic school boards in Quebec resulted in the amalgamation of all English language schools in the eastern part of the province and became the present-day territory of ESSB which includes region 01 Bas-Saint-Laurent; region 09 Côte-Nord; and region 11 La Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

Eastern Shores School Board Council of Commissioners

Ward	Electoral Division	Commissioner
1	Baie Comeau to Godbout / Fermont	Marc Deslauriers
2	Port Cartier / Seven Islands	Keith Eldridge
3	Magdalen Islands	Kerry Dickson
4	Murdochville / Part of the Town of Gaspe	Ronald Mundle
5	Part of the Town of Gaspe	Carter Coffin
6	Part of the Town of Gaspe	Donald Bourgoin
7	Ste-Therese / Part of Port-Daniel-Gascons	Gary Briand
8	Part of Port-Daniel-Gasçons / Shigawake / Hopetown /St. Godefroi / Hope / Paspébiac / East of Oriental Street, New Carlisle	Audrey Acteson
9	New Carlisle, from West of Oriental Street / Bonaventure / St-Elzéar / St-Siméon / Caplan / St-Alphonse	Cyrus Journeau
10	Cascapedia-St-Jules / Maria / New Richmond / Gesgapegiag / Carleton-Sur-Mer	Herbert Cochrane
11	Nouvelle / Escuminac / Cross Point / Matapedia to Rimouski / Metis Beach	Irvin Carmichael
Parent Commissioner		Sylvia Boulay
Parent Commissioner		Roberta Billingsley

Eastern Shores School Board Director Generals

1. Cyrus Journeau (1998 - 2003)
2. Dr. Christian Fagueret (2003 - 2004)
3. Stuart Richards (2004)
4. Nicole Cosgrove, Interim Director General (2004 - 2005)
5. Donna Bisson (2005 - 2007)
6. Nicole Cosgrove, Interim Director General (2007 - 2009)
7. Dave Royal (2009 - present)

K-11 schools

• Baie Comeau High School (pre k - sec 5)
• Belle Anse School (pre k - grade 6)
• Bonaventure Polyvalente School (sec 3 - 5)
• Entry Island (pre k - sec 2)
• Escuminac Intermediate School (pre k - sec 5)
• Evergreen High School (sec 1 - 5)
• Fermont School (pre k - grade 6)
• Flemming Elementary School (pre k - grade 6)
• Gaspe Elementary School (pre k - grade 6)
• C.E. Pouliot (a.k.a. Gaspe Polyvalente) (sec 1 - 5)
• Grosse Isle High School (pre k - sec 5)
• Metis Beach School (pre k - sec 5)
• New Carlisle High School (pre k - sec 2)
• New Richmond High School (pre k - sec 2)
• Queen Elizabeth High School (sec 1 - 5)
• Riverview School (pre k - sec 3)
• Shigawake-Port Daniel School (pre k - grade 6)
• St. Joseph/St. Patrick School (pre k - grade 6)

Adult Education and Technical & Vocational Centres

• ANCHOR Adult Education Centre
• Grosse Isle Adult Education Centre
• Listuguj Adult Euducation Centre
• New Richmond/Maria Adult Education Centre
• Northern Lights Adult Education Centre
• Wakeham Adult Education Centre

Controversies

Enrollment in the Eastern Shores School Board's schools and centres continues to decline as it does in most anglophone public school boards in Quebéc. This is a part of an ongoing decline which began with the enactment of the Charter of the French Language

Charter of the French Language

The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...

(Bill 101) by René Lévesque's Parti Québécois government in 1977. Entry Island is the school board's smallest school with less than a dozen students.

On June 16, 2010, the ESSB Council of Commissioners voted to recommend "that Bonaventure Polyvalente School (BPS) students be returned to their respective communities..." Although BPS is the largest school in the school board's territory with 143 students (as of September 30, 2010), the school board proposed to return the students to their "feeder schools" (ie. New Richmond High School and New Carlisle High School) due to declining student population. The closure of BPS would result in students remaining in their respective communities until the end of high school (ie. secondary 5). According to article 212 of the Education Act, 2010-2011 must be a year of consultation and 2011-2012 would be the last year that BPS would open its doors to anglophone students. Public opinion is divided on the issue.

External links

• Eastern Shores School Board official website (http://www.essb.qc.ca/)
• Ministère de l'Éducation, Loisir et Sport (MELS) website (http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/)
• Eastern Shores Teachers Association (ESTA) website (http://www.esteachers.org/)
• Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) website (http://www.qesba.qc.ca/en/Eastern_Shores_24.html)