Charla Jones/The Globe and Mail
Angry parents filled a school gymnasium Thursday night and railed at the Toronto District School Board, which apologized for keeping quiet about the removal of the principal of the Africentric school.
The investigation that led to the temporary leave of principal Thando Hyman-Aman has concluded and she is expected to return, said TDSB deputy director of academics Donna Quan.
"We anticipate that the outcome [of the investigation]will be positive. She's certainly well-embraced and well-loved," Ms. Quan said.
Ms. Hyman-Aman went on a personal leave Oct. 28, following a parent complaint and the launch of a TDSB investigation. The TDSB has refused to disclose the nature of the complaint.
"The only reason my daughter attends this [Africentric]school is because of the principal," said Masani Montague, whose daughter is in Grade 5 at the school. "We want her back."
Some questions still lingered about why a white male, George Brown Jr., was chosen as her replacement, a move parents and community members felt was insensitive.
"I'm sure he's a nice man, but the optics are bad and it couldn't have happened at a worse time," said Winston La Rose, executive director of the Jane and Finch Concerned Citizens Organization.
The vast majority of the approximately 150 parents and community members in attendance expressed strong support for Ms. Hyman-Aman, and lamented that the temporary removal may have tarnished her reputation.
Divisions have emerged in the past year over how to run the school and build an Africentric curriculum. A small group of about five to 10 parents have strongly objected to Ms. Hyman-Aman's leadership.
The controversial idea of an Africentric school at the TDSB was born of an effort to stem the 40-per-cent dropout rate among Toronto's black students. Some felt the idea amounted to segregation, and an early struggle to meet enrolment targets suggested Canada's first public Africentric school might not take off.
A last-minute enrolment surge erased those doubts, the school soon had a waiting list, and recent scores on province-wide literacy and numeracy tests were strong - well above the provincial average. There are currently 161 students enrolled with 55 more on a waiting list.