[URBAN NOTE] "Keep 'newcomer high' at Greenwood, students plead"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Kristin Rushowy looks at the effort, by students and their families, to keep migrant-oriented Greenwood Secondary School open.

Greenwood Secondary is close to 80 per cent full, but is facing closure because moving its students seemed less disruptive than other options in a shuffle meant to reduce unused space across the TDSB.

It’s their sanctuary, their first “home” in Canada. They consider their fellow students and teachers family.

And the teens at Greenwood Secondary School — all recently arrived refugees and immigrants — don’t want it to close and move into nearby Danforth Collegiate. They accuse the school board of stacking the deck against them and not listening to their concerns.

Of the 10 schools in the area that came under review, “Greenwood is the easy one,” said student council vice-president Tolin Abuaziza, who emigrated from Palestine little over a year ago. “We don’t know anything about Canada, about the school system. At any other school, parents would stand up and be angry — maybe even hire a lawyer — saying, ‘Keep the school open.’ But we can’t.”

With parents who don’t speak English or who work long hours and can’t attend public or accommodation review committee meetings, the Greenwood students feel they haven’t really had a chance to make their case, added Zahra Afshar, student council president.