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Friday, 12 December 2008 18:17 |
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Trustee Josh Matlow
By Natalie Alcoba, National Post Toronto’s first Afrocentric public school has enrolled only eight students so far, a sign, according to one critic, that support for the controversial concept was never widespread.
The Toronto District School Board said there must be at least two consecutive grades of 20 students each in order for the school to open its doors in September. The JK-to-Grade-5 school will be housed in an existing elementary school in North York. Read more...www.joshmatlow.ca
By Natalie Alcoba, National Post Toronto’s first Afrocentric public school has enrolled only eight students so far, a sign, according to one critic, that support for the controversial concept was never widespread.
The Toronto District School Board said there must be at least two consecutive grades of 20 students each in order for the school to open its doors in September. The JK-to-Grade-5 school will be housed in an existing elementary school in North York.
The enrollment drive kicked off three weeks ago, and board officials say they have until the end of February to meet the minimum size, although a principal is to be hired next month.
Trustee Josh Matlow (pictured), a vocal critic of the plan, maintains most black parents in Toronto want not an Afrocentric school, but a board-wide curriculum that better reflects all students.
“It should have never been about one school,” he said today.
“I know that the school board is working very hard to see the school be a success, I think for some very sincere reasons, but they also want to lend credibility to the board’s decision. It would be embarrassing for the school board if it doesn’t succeed.”
The TDSB narrowly approved a proposal last year to open the country’s first publicly funded Afrocentric school as a way to reach marginalized black youth who were dropping out of high school in disproportionate numbers.
The eight enrolled students are spread out across the grades.
Lloyd McKell, a top school board official overseeing the proposal, is not surprised by the slow start, since he said parents need time to balance a genuine interest in the program, with the logistics of making it work for their family.
“I’m not actually surprised that for this level of children, from JK to Grade 5, that parents would want to say: I’m not going to just simply say yes, even though I completely support the concept,” said Mr. McKell, executive officer for student and community equity at the TDSB.
The board has held three information sessions, the last of which took place this week at Sheppard Public School, the Afrocentric school site, and was attended by about 100 parents.
“The big concern for parents is the one of distance from the school. Not everyone lives in the Sheppard neighbourhood,” said Mr. McKell. The TDSB does not provide busing for alternative schools, and parents at this week’s meeting wanted to know whether that could change in the future. There are also families with children in Grade 3 and Grade 6, and parents are not keen to split them up.
“We want to be patient and acknowledge that those are issues that parents need to think carefully about,” said Mr. McKell. The board does not want parents to have to “undergo enormous sacrifice” to send their children to an Afrocentric school.
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