Drake's old Toronto high school could close, students want rapper to save it

TheTorontoDistrict SchoolBoardlaunchedpublic discussions Thursday evening about five high schoolsdeemed underused or under review, butstudents at one of the schoolsare hoping some star power willhelp keep it open.

The discussions are part of what the Ministry of Education calls a "pupil accommodation review," which takes place whenschools are slated for possible closure and might mean students have to move to nearby schools.

The first of twocommunity engagement sessions beganat 7:30 p.m. at Vaughan RoadAcademy, whose most famous former student is none other than Toronto's own superstar rapper, Drake.

Here is Drake wearing a sweater with the school crest in this Nike ad.

Hotline help

"Somebody should hit up Drake and tell him to come save it," said Rachel Seymour, 15. Seymourisone of a group of 10girls rallying for the internationally famous musician to get Vaughan Road Academy offthe TDSB's list of underused schools.

TDSB staff will makerecommendations before the board makes any final decision regarding the future oftheschools.

Declining student enrolment is at the heart of the issue. At Vaughan Road Academy, in the Oakwood Avenue and the Eglinton Avenue West area,the TDSB estimated 220 students between grades 9and12 were enrolled in September 2016.

That'sdown from 276 the previous year. According to the board's website, the school can accommodate 1,179.

One is the loneliest number

Film studies teacher Jason Kuninhas worked at the school for 17 years and says he'sheartbroken about the prospect that Vaughan Road Academycould close.

"This is a part of my community. This is a huge chunk of my life,"Kuninsaid.

As he saw the numbers go down, he took tosatire.In his short video called The Last Student at Vaughan Road Academy,a lone student wanders from classroomto classroom where Kunin is the only teacher.

His other video,The Lonely Teacher,shows Kuninbored in an empty classroom,thenwandering through emptyschoolhalls, when he decides to work on student recruitment with no success.

The films are tongue-in-cheek but Kuninseesthe school's decline as a product of diminishing resources.

'A death spiral'

"Several years ago we entered into a death spiral. Basically when your enrolment gets below a certain point you get fewer staff and with fewer staff you get offered fewer courses. And so more kids leave because there's fewer courses. And it's very hard to get out of that cycle."

Student enrolment dropped by 69 per cent in the last decade and the school is now less than a quarter full.

• In February 2015 the TDSB released the names of 60 schools under review for possible closures.

The schools that would be affected by a closurein the Eglinton AvenueWestarea between Keele Streetand Spadina Road includes:

• Forest Hill Collegiate Institute
• John Polanyi Collegiate Institute
• Oakwood Collegiate Institute
• York Memorial Collegiate Institute

All of those are within15 kilometres ofVaughan Road Academy and would likely absorb some of the students from Vaughan Road Academy if it closed.

Some in the neighbourhood are worried the landthe school sits on might attract a developer who wants to build condos

Under the Education Act's Regulation 444, theTDSBwould deem the site as surplus to its needs andalso has to offer anysite it decides to sellto other boards in Toronto, the province and the citybefore any other type of sale.

But long before it gets to that pointthere's still the matter of thosepublic meetingsand for student RachelSeymour, the chance that a star will save her school.