NEWS

By RON FANFAIR
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The Black community should consider legal action to show its disapproval over the Toronto District School Board's (TDSB) failure to support or fund Black-focused schools. That is the opinion Dr. Afua Cooper shared at a conference of Black educators on the weekend.

The province's education ministry also came in for stinging rebuke from Dr. Cooper who felt that both the ministry and the province's school boards should be held responsible for the underachievement of Black students in this province.

Cooper said that Black students have been denied quality education and kicked out of school by a board that now has the temerity to wash its hands of the matter.

"The board is not taking any responsibility for the high dropout rate or the mis-education of Black children," Cooper said during her keynote address at the Canadian Association of Black Educators (CABE) dinner last Saturday night which wrapped up the two-day conference.

"The Black community must demand a better response from the TDSB. At the same time, supporters of Black-focused schools should not be asking the TDSB to launch the schools. We have more than enough competent educators and administrators to do so ourselves. In many respects, the debate is irrelevant because we know the problems and we also know the solutions."

There has been considerable debate on the issue of Black-focused schools in the past 15 years, not the least of which were the Royal Commission on Learning's hearings and submissions 11 years ago.

The debate was revived following a heated community forum at the St. Lawrence Centre two months ago after it was revealed that four out of every 10 Black students drop out of TDSB schools.

Cooper lashed out at opponents of Black-focused schools, many of whom she claims do not question the existence of Black-focused churches or Black-focused prisons.

"Why the opposition to Black-focused schools as being segregated schools when in fact we have a long tradition of segregated schools in Canada?" she asked. "For example, we have Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, Bahai, Catholic and other separate schools based on religious principles. We also have schools separated along gender lines."

Cooper said models and templates of Afro-centric schools already exist, pointing to the Umoja Learning Circle, Higher Marks Educational Institute, the Saturday Morning Heritage program and the Shiloh Christian Academy.

She suggests that there should be at least 10 Black-focused schools in the Greater Toronto Area staffed by competent, committed and caring Black educators and non-Blacks who are committed to Black education.

"We need to go ahead, put our minds together, use our intellectual capital and create Black-focused schools," she demanded. "The time is now because to wait is to court peril. The question is not whether we need Black-focused schools. It is when. Our children and their children will curse us if we do not act now."

The dinner was the climax of a two-day conference held to celebrate CABE's 25th anniversary. The theme of the conference was Strategies and Solutions: Education and The Empowerment of African Canadians.

Workshops focused on the African Canadian Experience in the Classroom; Best Practices in the Promotion of Science, Technology and Engineering in African Canadian Communities; Principles of Successful Sports Engagement and The Role that Guidance Counselors can play in empowering Black youth.

CABE president Kirk Mark said most of the discussions centred on the challenges of marginalization in the education system.

"This is nothing new, but with the available data, we hope to work collectively with other groups to make a difference," said Mark. "That is high on our agenda and we move forward to build on the momentum generated by this conference."

Dr. Cooper's complete speech is available at http://www.oocities.org/EnchantedForest/2738/afrocentricschools/acscooper.html