HS principal reported to HR police over "Black List"

Peggy Aitchison, the principal of the Etobicoke (Ontario) School of the Arts, has found out the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished, especially when the do-gooder is an educated white woman (read: Ms Aitchison) and the beneficiaries are less-educated black yoof.

The ESA is a surprisingly elitist high school run by the loony left Toronto District School Board, where students (of all races, faiths, yada yada, of course) can study drama [Perhaps to become future prime ministers? Ed.], meeja, film-making, music and dance -- all the artsy-fartsy stuff that will make them underproductive citizens when (if?) they grow up.

Pictures of the ESA student body reveal that the majority of the kids are white, which may or may not be odd since white folks are a minority in the Greater [sic] Toronto Area. But some of the students are black, or, as the Toronto Red Star styles it, "Black". And some of those kids -- the Black kids -- are, errr, underachieving. Concerned about how to bring these yoofs up to the level of their peers, Peggy Aitchison compiled a list of all "students of colour" at the school, which she passed out to teachers so they could give the underachievers extra help. You can see what's coming, can't you?

George Brown [sic], the parent of an 18-year-old student at ESA, found out about what he calls the "Black list", and filed what he says is a "human rights claim" against both Principal Aitchison and the TDSB. "It took the photos of the black students in the yearbook and places it beside their names," he told CTV News. "It is not being done on the basis of collected data. It is profiled!"

Mr Brown went on to explain that the list also placed students in categories based on mixed race. "You were in a different kind of category, as if you had some kind of white in your background, maybe you aren't, I guess, stupid. But you were put in another list is you were black from Africa or Jamaica." Hmmm.

At a meeting of parents earlier this month, Ms Aitchison admitted to creating the list, and apologized profusely, in the grand old Canadian tradition, saying that she only meant to help measure achievement at the school. "Upon reflection and discussion with others," she said, "I recognized that this was a limited, flawed, and ultimately inappropriate approach to identifying gaps in supports and so, that very same day, I retracted that compilation that was based solely on perception."

Mr Brown told CTV he doesn't accept the apology because her explanation "wasn't enough" for him. He and his son (who Walt assumes was on the Black list) say they want the TDSB to provide human rights training to all staff and to provide assurances that no more lists like the one found at ESA will ever be created. And they want Ms Aitchison should apologize to every student on the list individually.

Ms Aitchison responded by asking to be transferred to another school, and the TDSB said "So let it be written; so let it be done."