Oakwood Collegiate students were “outraged” to learn when they woke up Saturday that their school could become the site of Toronto’s first Africentric high school in September.

“Uh, really?” said Grade 12 student Henry Che, summing up the collective reaction to news that students and parents say came out of nowhere.

“No one was informed about this,” said Che, 17. “People are outraged about the lack of transparency.”

Oakwood’s school council said it is a “disgrace” that the community was not consulted before Toronto District School Board staff made the recommendation.

Most parents learned about the proposal on Saturday through media reports and after an automated phone call directed them to a letter on the school’s website, announcing a Tuesday night public meeting.

The proposal for the black-focused school is detailed in a report going before a committee of trustees Wednesday. A decision could be made as early as April 13.

“They’re trying to ram this down our throats without any consultation,” said co-chair David Battiston, a former Oakwood student who now has two children enrolled at the school.

“Everyone’s devastated. I have not heard one person or student that approves of this.”

Battiston and co-chair Beth Davey were called into an emergency meeting Thursday where they learned about the recommendation. Battiston said they were instructed to keep the news hush-hush, but it was leaked to the media over the weekend.

The school council will ask for more time to consider the proposal.

As news about the proposal spread Saturday, students organized an online petition and a protest group on Facebook.

Many students who wrote on the group’s wall argued that making Oakwood an Africentric school will divide its diverse population.

Like the current Africentric Alternative elementary school, Oakwood’s would be a “school within a school.” Teens enrolled in the program could take classes offered by the home school and vice-versa.

The Toronto District School Board opened its first black-focused alternative school in 2009. It has performed well on provincial tests and already has a waiting list.

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Board staff has been looking at the possibility of a secondary school since last fall. Space was one of the considerations. Oakwood has 730 students and room for at least another 300.

With files from Kristin Rushowy