Amid howls of protest Tuesday night from nearly 400 Oakwood Collegiate students, staff and parents angry at an Africentric high school, trustee Maria Rodrigues says she will recommend the proposal be put on hold until the public has more say.

Apologizing for a lack of public notice for the idea of opening the alternative program this fall at Oakwood, Rodrigues said she will propose the plan be deferred at a committee meeting Wednesday “until we have consulted more with the community.”

Students, graduates, parents and members of the black community packed the auditorium of the historic high school on St. Clair Ave. W. to discuss a staff proposal to open the alternative school in a bid to tackle a 40-per-cent dropout rate among Toronto’s black teens.

However most of the audience opposed the idea of an alternative program under Oakwood’s roof, calling it segregation and warning it would divide a school that is already highly diverse. Emotions have run so high since media reports of the proposal last weekend, that at least six police officers attended the meeting as a precaution after the school received several email threats Tuesday.

Student Tyler Stewart drew cheers when he asked board officials at the meeting: “Why can’t you just offer Africentric courses in history and literature instead of changing the whole feel of the school?”

Oakwood science teacher Magdy Abdelmassih also opposed the Africentric program, saying “at Oakwood we don’t build walls, we tear them down.”

The crowd went wild with applause when the teacher added, “Why don’t you take the $100,000 it will probably cost to set up the program and give it to Oakwood?”

However some argued passionately for the idea.

Kativa Turner is in Grade 12 at Malvern Collegiate, but said she would have repeated Grade 12 happily at the new school just to get a taste of the Africentric curriculum she said she has been “waiting for my whole life.

“I’m enraged at you guys for being against it — you have some nerve. It’s not white people dropping out, it’s blacks and it’s not our fault.”

Yet Oakwood students of all colours spoke against the proposal.

Education director Chris Spence was one of a number of officials at the Oakwood meeting who said he was there to “hear your concerns.

“It’s fantastic to see such a great turnout and ultimately the decision makers will be the trustees,” said Spence.

Board staff reported on the feasibility of an Africentric high school to provide a continuum for students enrolled in an Africentric elementary school launched two years ago at Sheppard Public School.

That school boasts high test scores, strong school spirit and an enrolment of 161 students from kindergarten through Grade 6.

The school has a waiting list of 55 students.

Many of the students live in the west end, which is one reason Oakwood was proposed as a site for the new high school.

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In a letter to trustees, Spence apologized for having proposed a school site before they had the chance to discuss it in private.

The proposal will be discussed by the board’s program and school services committee Wednesday and could go to the full board for a final decision as early as April 13.