Contact—An Alternative School for Working-Class and Racialized Students

Abstract

In the early 1970s a group of Toronto teachers came together to establish Contact–an alternative school designed specifically for inner-city working class and racialized students. Two of the original teachers reflect on these initial struggles-first to convince the Toronto Board of Education of its merits, and then to develop and maintain a program that would appeal to students, many of whom had long since given up on a school system that had failed them. Particular attention is given to describing the school’s curriculum, and the collective nature of teachers’ work, which evolved over the initial years. The chapter ends with a present-day look at the school–how it remains true to its original mandate, and how it has changed.