Thousands of English-speaking students in Grade 11 math classes will be forced to make do with photocopies and second-rate manuals for the time being, because their English-language textbooks are not yet ready.
Thanks in part to the province's five-year-old reform in high schools, the books are written in French, and require English translation before they can be handed out to students.
The English Montreal School Board said the issue may cause students to lag behind their French-speaking peers.
"Just teaching the basic math will not be enough, we have to teach reform-style problem solving, We need to have the material which is going to match the evaluation that's going to be given in June," said Tom Booth of the EMSB.
The EMSB has found a temporary solution, convincing the textbook's publisher to issue a soft-cover version of its learning reference. The board hopes it will at least help the students carry through the current school year. The manual, however, doesn't include a learning guide for teachers.
The publisher will make the pages available as each chapter becomes available, but for now, the teachers will be required to fill in the blanks themselves.
"Most of us have been doing this long enough, we know what's required of them, so in the meantime we're just basing ourselves from our topics, and topics from other textbooks," said math teacher Carmine Taddeo.
