The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) applied for an injunction Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to stop the transfer of two of its east-end schools to a French-language board, but it is still planning for the worst.

The legal action seeks to block the transfers, but if it fails the EMSB has begun making plans to relocate students in the affected schools, General Vanier Elementary and John Paul I Junior High.

EMSB chair Angela Mancini said legal action against the Quebec government was a last resort, but that the board had already tried "many other options."

"At this point we felt that the injunction was the best way to go, in order to ask the courts to stop the transfer of these two schools," she said.

Mancini cautioned parents against seeing this latest move as a victory.

"It's very important to understand that there is no guarantee," she said. "The lawyers have not been 100 per cent clear on whether we're going to win."

General Vanier Elementary and John Paul I Junior High schools are set to be handed over to the Pointe-de-l'Île school board (CSPI) this summer.

The board wants to move John Paul students to Laurier Macdonald High School. Pierre de Coubertin and Dante elementary schools are options for the General Vanier students.

Lawyers representing the English-language school board have asked the Quebec Superior Court to quash government orders to transfer the two schools.

They have requested a temporary injunction of up to 10 days that would freeze all activities around the transfer until judges decide whether to hear the case. If the court decides to hear the case, the EMSB lawyers have asked for the transfer process to be frozen until a decision is made.

A judge will likely rule on whether the case will be heard on Thursday morning.

In their application the EMSB says the transfer violates Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which covers minority language education rights.

They say the government failed to properly consult the English-speaking community, and they failed to consider the English-speaking community's "exclusive right" to manage and control their educational facilities.

A lawyer representing the province says that granting an injunction would create confusion for students with the CSPI when they return to class this fall.

A judge will decide whether or not to grant the injunction on Thursday morning.

Overcrowding at Pointe-de-l'Île

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge has said the transfers are needed because of overcrowding at the French school board.

The transfers followed months of negotiations between the two boards and the minister.

Roberge said he had hoped the EMSB would not resort to legal action over the transfers.

'Difficult decision'

Initially, Roberge had also threatened to transfer Gerald McShane Elementary School.

In a letter sent to parents last week, Roberge said the transfer of the two schools was a "difficult decision."

He explained that he decided against transferring Gerald McShane because it's the only English elementary school in Montréal-Nord.

General Vanier Elementary and John Paul Junior High schools are both in Saint-Léonard.

In an interview with CBC Montreal's Daybreak last week, Premier François Legault said he was left with no choice but to transfer the schools.

"Unfortunately, the preceding government didn't plan well, and we have a large lack of space," he said.