Lantier's First School

When it was a school, this building lit by several windows, included space to house the teacher. In fact, the teacher lived at the school.

Upon entering, we would find a storage area that served as a cloakroom, a single classroom where rows of desks were anchored to the floor, a blackboard, as well as the teacher’s desk and chair. The room was equipped with a cast-iron stove, the maintenance of which was entrusted to a student.

Outside, next to the school, was a wood shed and a latrine.

Later the school was converted into a private residence. It has belonged to the Miron family since 1969.

Back when Lantier was still considered to be a mission, schoolhouse no.1, built in 1920 at 1025 Boulevard Rolland-Cloutier (Highway 329), was used for religious services until the Sacré-Cœur-des-Laurentides chapel was built. Today, it is a private home.

The wood building boasted several windows to allow the light to enter, a small cloakroom near the entrance, and an extra room to house the teacher. The single classroom held rows of desks bolted to the floor, a blackboard, and a desk and chair for the teacher. A student was assigned to keep the fire in the cast iron wood stove burning. A woodshed and outhouse could be found outside. After the priest, the mayor, and the commissioners, the teacher was, of course, the most highly respected person in the village. Her job was to teach some thirty children in grades 1 to 7 French, arithmetic, history, geography, religion, etiquette, drawing, and singing. Her conduct had to be irreproachable, and she was expected to maintain the highest moral standards at all times.

Lantier’s school board was founded in 1948. A schoolmaster was hired for school no. 3, and a schoolmistress for no. 5. Inspectors reported that the schools were in disrepair. School no. 2 needed drinking water, yard work, gravel, and cedar fence posts, among other things. Given the school board’s other expenses (Saint-Donat electric cooperative, cords of wood to heat the schoolhouses, installation of wells and sanitary facilities) the operating budget was stretched thin. During the 1949-1950 school year, a property tax of $2 per $100 of assessed value was collected, allowing for the purchase of chalk, abacuses, globes, and maps. As for school no. 1, it was clearly too much to expect that even the most competent teacher could single-handedly educate fifty students in seven grades.

In 1950, the growing number of students, the feedback of a school inspector, and the requirements of a law passed by the Department of Public Instruction prompted the school municipality of Lantier to purchase five lots for the construction of a two-room schoolhouse (now the town hall). The value of an education is immeasurable, and initiatives such as the agricultural and forestry museum and the school library contributed greatly to that education, but in 1954 the school had to be expanded to add three higher primary classes. The new educational program had to be implemented with all the necessary tools. In eighth and ninth grades, boys were introduced to manual skills, practical agriculture, and civics, while girls were taught home economics. In 1960, the school had 120 students – 109 in primary and 11 in lower secondary.

In June 1963, Quebec created a Ministry of education and youth and replaced the Council of public instruction with the Superior council of education. The following year, students attending secondary school were bussed to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. In May 1967, Lantier’s school board agreed to pay for students in grades 4 to 7 to spend a day visiting Expo 67 and to fund end-of-year rewards for the other students. In February 1969, a number of school municipalities came together to form the Laurentian school municipality. In June, the Laurentian school board was founded. And thus ended school life in Lantier.