A private Muslim school in Scarborough has closed its doors after its teachers voted to unionize.

The school's administrators made the decision on Tuesday, just a day after 15 of its staff voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 175.

While the union is calling the decision to close the school and fire the teachers premature, the school's founder says paying a unionized workforce would have been financially impossible.

"It was a shock and a surprise," said Farooq Khan, who founded the Islamic Academy at the North American Muslim Foundation (NAMF) in 2004.

Around 100 students attend the not-for-profit school, the majority of them from low-income families in the Thorncliffe Park area, he said. His son also attended the academy.

Tuition is around $300 per student monthly, Khan said, which puts the school around $10,000 short of its monthly operating costs. Covering the difference could have required doubling tuition fees, according to Khan.

"At the end of the day if you don't have money, there's nothing we can do about it," he said.

In May 2017, another private Muslim school, the Islamic Foundation School, also closed its doors after staff voted to join UFCW Local 175.

No meeting took place

UFCW is questioning Khan's math, since they say no discussions took place about possible wage increases. The union says it did not receive any formal notice of closure from the school, and that the two sides had not even scheduled a time to meet and exchange proposals.

It is now pursuing possible legal action against the NAMF.

UFCW Local 175 president Shawn Haggerty said the union is "outraged" by the decision to close. (UFCW)

"How can they claim they must close when they don't even know what's on the table yet?" said Shawn Haggerty of UFCW Local 175 in a statement.

"Instead of dealing with the concerns of their employees, they decided it was better to close the school, force their students and families to find alternate schooling with no notice, and throw these 15 teachers out of work," Haggerty wrote.

In response, Khan says the school's finances were simply too precarious to survive any pay increase. He said the academy was already relying on $15,000 to $20,000 in donations every month to stay afloat.

"If the school had been in the positive, then I'd have no reason to close it," he said. "I did not want that, I founded the school, it's my baby."

Staff allege mistreatment

UFCW cited complaints from teachers about mistreatment and a lack of "respect and job security" at the academy.

The union also said the school displayed "little consideration for the well-being of the children," in its release.

A poster from the now-shuttered Islamic Academy. (North American Muslim Foundation)

Khan tells a different story, saying he had a "cordial" relationship with his teaching staff and accommodated them to the best of the school's abilities. As an example, Khan said he regularly allowed staff to take time off for personal reasons.

He said students were also treated well at the academy.

"I walk in these classrooms and I see them empty, they were the joy of my life," he said. "It looks like a graveyard to me now."

Khan said most of the school's former students are now being transferred to public schools, including his son.

He said there are no immediate plans to reopen the school, unless a major new donor steps forward.