Hundreds of students at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts walked out of class on Thursday in a show of support for their long-time principal, drawing attention to tensions within the Toronto high school community.
Earlier this week, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) notified students and staff of Rosedale Heights that, due to some promotions and transfers, the current long-term principal, Barrie Sketchley, who is in his 80s, would be transferring to Harbord Collegiate Institute.
Sketchley founded Rosedale Heights as an arts school 33 years ago.
“He’s the most amazing guy, he’s the most committed principal ever, he goes to every single show, every single performance at the school for the last 33 years, and they’re trying to get rid of him. He is the school,” said one student at the walkout.
“We’d like to see Mr. Sketchley reinstated,” said Grade 12 student Dylan Follett. “We at Rosedale strongly believe that he is the best principal for our school, and he needs time to make a proper transition and send off next year. This is just a disrespectful move by the board, and they attempted to erode specialty education in the TDSB.”
Some believe the move may be more political than policy and that disagreements between Sketchley and the school board regarding admission practices may have influenced the decision.
“From what I can tell, this policy is not really a policy,” said parent and Rosedale Heights chair Katrina Matheson. “It just seems like something they do, something they like to do, and it’s a reason they give for why they are moving people that isn’t really a reason.”
The student-led action hopes the TDSB will allow Sketchley to spend his final year before retirement at Rosedale Heights.
“It’s hard to talk about Mr. Sketchley because he is Rosedale, he’s as much a part of the school as the walls are,” added Follett.
CityNews reached out to Sketchley, who declined an interview.
“For them to tell us and give us six days of notice that this is his last year is truly and unnecessarily cruel because we have no time to give him a proper send off,” said another Grade 12 student.
CityNews contacted the TDSB and asked if there would be any reconsideration of Sketchley’s transfer now that the students have voiced their concerns, but they did not clarify at the time of publication.
