Enrollment is slightly over 800 students in Secondary I, II, III, IV and V. Cristina Celzi is the current principal[1] of Laurier Macdonald High School.
The Parti Québécois government had declared a moratorium on the construction of English schools shortly after its accession to power in the fall of 1976.
Needless to say, the facilities were not the ideal setting for teachers and students vying for the ultimate goal of a proper education.
However, with the opening of the new Antoine de St-Exupéry francophone high school, the building formerly used to house French-speaking students was now available.
Laurier Macdonald was a comprehensive high school from 1983 (or in French, école polyvalente) until that distinction was abolished provincially in the early 1990s.
Other principals included Joseph Lalla (1993–1996), Mario Tirelli (1996–2000), Pasquale Buttino (2000–2007), Eileen Kelly (2007–2011), and Luigi Santamaria (2011-2020).
Notable graduates of Laurier Macdonald include multiple, award-winning IMAX producer and filmmaker Pietro L. Serapiglia (class of 1973) – Titanica, Super Speedway, Rocky Mountain Express,[3] Grey Cup winners Randy Chevrier and Danny Maciocia, former head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League, Frank Zampino (1976),[4] former Chairman of the Executive Committee of the City of Montreal, and Hussain Yoosuf, a former member of the Juno Award-winning Canadian hip-hop pioneers Dream Warriors who went on to a career as a solo artist under the stage name of "Spek".
The school named its pastoral centre (now referred to as the Spiritual and Community Life Center) after Father Gagné, a former pastoral animator at Laurier Macdonald, its sports complex after Canadian runner and activist, Terry Fox, its auditorium after Ralph Iadeluca, a former school commissioner at Jérôme-Le Royer, and one of its lounges after Marguerite McKee, a former French teacher.
The reorganization of the school boards in 1998 opened up Laurier Macdonald to students from throughout the Island of Montreal, allowing anyone who lives (roughly) east of the Décarie Autoroute (A-15) to attend.
The student body is overwhelmingly Italian, Catholic and middle-class, reflecting the generally homogeneous make-up of Saint-Léonard's English-speaking population.
John Paul l was closed by the Government of Quebec in June 2019 all students and staff were transferred to Laurier Macdonald.
This erased Laurier Macdonald's distinction as one of the last remaining high schools to only offer secondary lll to V in English, in Montreal.
While the school's performance in the controversial Fraser Institute rankings has improved slowly over the past several years[when?
], Principal Pasquale Buttino commented in local newspapers in 2005 that he felt the school's academic record was being misrepresented.
Buttino observed that Laurier Macdonald has always boasted a graduation rate of over ninety percent since it opened in 1969 and that many avant-garde projects, specifically those of the Communication Arts department, are not considered by the Fraser Institute during the preparation of school rankings.
During the 2003 outdoor season a milestone was achieved when Coach Sam Longo led both the senior and junior men's team to the GMAA championships.
OPUS, a quarterly school newspaper, won the Montreal Gazette's award for excellence in student journalism several times during the 1990s.
Circulation peaked at over 5000 copies when the newspaper was distributed not only to students at Laurier Macdonald but also to those at its feeder schools in Saint-Léonard, Anjou and Pointe-aux-Trembles.
Students have published award-winning books on the Canadian immigrant experience which have received praise both at home and abroad.