Toronto Approves Africentric Secondary School

After controversy over elementary school, Africentric schooling gets a big shrug from public.

The Toronto District School Board's trustees voted last night to open the country's first Africentric high school, two years after opening an Africentric elementary school. The rationale behind the schools is to reduce the 40-per-cent drop-out rate among black youth in Toronto schools by focusing on the experience of Black Canadians and strengthening ties among members of the black community. The elementary school, which can only serve 185 students, already has a waiting list and has helped raised standardized test scores. School board officials are hoping to have the high school opened by 2012 or 2013, although a location for the school has yet to be determined.