|
By Dave Bowden, National Post
After an aggressive months-long enrolment campaign, Toronto’s Africentric school barely mustered the 40 students needed to open in September, prompting some trustees to wonder whether the school should – or even can – open as scheduled.
The Toronto District School Board announced it will go ahead with the controversial school after enrolling “nearly 45” students by last Friday’s deadline, just a handful more than the minimum 40 students the board required. According to trustee James Pasternak, whose ward will include the new school, about 25 more families have expressed interest.
But the enrolment numbers have only fueled the fire among the school’s opponents, who say the low turnout indicates a lack of community support that could doom the school before it ever opens.
“If, come September, not everyone of those [students already enrolled] keep to their commitment, are we still going to go ahead with it?” said trustee Josh Matlow, a vocal opponent of the school.
Over a four-month period that ended on Friday, the board took out ads in newspapers and held three public information sessions, inviting interested parents to question staff and find out more about the proposed new school. All but one meeting – the one held at the Sheppard Avenue West location where the Africentric school will open – were sparsely attended.
“The very fact that they had to have all these meetings and fairs means they were twisting arms,” Mr. Matlow said.
“If the school was truly the demand of the community – the way that the school board suggested it was – we never would have had to have an enrolment campaign. We would have had people knocking on our door.”
Stephnie Payne – the board’s only black trustee – also opposed the Africentric school. She said that despite the board’s noblest efforts, the lack of interest could stem from its failure to address the type of education African-Canadians want for their children.
“When you have parents from the continent of Africa saying, ‘No, no, that’s not the reason I come here,’ that tells you something, doesn’t it?”
“One parent said to me, ‘The kid should not have to go to a black school to learn about blackness. It should be taught in all schools,’ which was my [feeling] from the beginning.”
Mr. Pasternak defended the school’s popularity. He said enrolment numbers have been increasing each week since the campaign started and he expects the trend to continue.
“Our view is that we are above the minimum and that is expected to grow through the spring and summer,” he said. “So there’s certainly a buffer well above the minimum that will protect us from any kind of softening of our enrolment numbers in late spring.”
Even with the minimum number of students enrolled, Mr. Matlow worries that an even grade distribution will result in combined classes with students from two or more grades. The school will range from junior Kindergarten to Grade 5, but Mr. Pasternak indicated to the media on Monday that the school had failed to attract many students in Grades 3 and 4, leading Mr. Matlow to question how to bridge the gap between Grades 2 and 5.
“There’s a concern about how, structurally and functionally, they’ll be able to organize this school,” Mr. Matlow said. “How can they structure it where they’re going to have a number of split classes between the two grades?”
Mr. Pasternak said the answer could come from a lengthened enrolment campaign.
“When you have soft enrolment numbers in two successive grades, you combine the grades. That creates the critical mass to form a functioning [class],” he said. “At the same time, we still have time to go out and target families with a certain age group.”
Ms. Payne and Mr. Matlow said they intend to pose their concerns to staff involved in the Africentric school when they present the enrolment numbers to the board on Wednesday.
|
