The controversial Africentric Alternative School, spearheaded by the Toronto District School Board, experienced a jump in enrollment numbers just as the school officially opened.

According to May Moore, communications officer with the TDSB, approximately 150 students were registered to start at the Africentric Alternative School as of Sept. 8. A surge in enrollment was especially apparent in junior and senior kindergarten.

“This will address a 40 per cent drop-out rate among black students,” Moore said, justifying why an 11 – 9 majority of trustees voted to establish the school last year. “This is one of four new initiatives to address issues like this.”

According to James Pasternak, Ward 5 trustee with the TDSB and proponent of the school, one reason for a high dropout rate was “outdated and irrelevant curriculum to the black experience.”

The school, which will be open to all regardless of ethnic background, aims to approach teaching with a slightly altered curriculum. This includes lessons in black history and culture.

“The school is teaching some of the same things, but differently,” Moore added.
“The research is showing we really need to appreciate black culture and history more,” Marianne Larsen, assistant professor at Western’s faculty of education, said.

However, one of the major points of contention among the trustees was the idea of making amends to the curriculum currently taught in public schools rather than establishing the school.

Moreover, opposing trustees also brought up the notion that there are other communities in which students are underachieving.

“It’s important to note that the push point came from the community, not the TDSB,” Moore said in response to the idea of a similar school for other communities with the same problems.

Despite the debate surrounding the issue, Western and its affiliate university colleges are in agreement on their admissions policy for students coming from ethnocentric schools.

“A grade from one school is the same as a grade from another,” Marianne Simm, the registrar at Brescia University College, said. “All schools following the Ontario high school curriculum are evaluated equally.”

Lori Gribbon, director undergraduate recruitment and admissions at Western, echoes these sentiments.

“We don’t discriminate against any school at all if it is a ministry-approved school,” she said.
Whether or not the africentic school initiative is of interest to officials in London is still up for question. In fact, a discussion is yet to be had by the trustees on the Thames Valley District School Board.

“We are always willing to learn from successes in other jurisdictions, but there has been no desire expressed by the Thames Valley community to go in that direction,” Richard Hoffman, public affairs officer with the TVDSB, said.

According to Hoffman, London does not currently have anything comparable to Toronto’s africentric school.

Moore also added the students will be safeguarded against the possibility of a lack of exposure to those of other cultural backgrounds.

“Students share a facility with Sheppard public school,” Moore said. “There will be plenty of opportunities to work and play together with the other students.”

Victoria Falana, third-year kinesiology student at Western, believes opponents to the idea are being misled and are  unaware of its purpose.

“There is no African history or African-Canadian history in schools,” Falana said. “The curriculum has been taught in a very eurocentric and Anglo-Saxon way.”