With one day left for early registrations, Toronto's Africentric school project is still well below its minimum level of students.
The Toronto District School Board has said it needs at least 40 students to justify opening the school, which would focus on black culture.
"Right now, we're less than 15 students," John Campbell, the board's chair, told CTV Toronto in mid-December.
But Lloyd McKell, who heads the Africentric school project, told CTV Toronto on Thursday that interest is picking up -- although he won't reveal an exact number until the final deadline is reached in March.
"Jan. 9 is established as a target date for assessing where we are at with enrolments in order to engage in projections about how many staff we will need, what kind of facilities we would need to arrange," he said.
The board approved the project in a close vote at a January 2008 meeting.
A portion of Sheppard Public School, located at Sheppard Avenue and Keele Street, has been chosen as a location. The board is still searching for a principal.
The board held three information sessions between Nov. 25 and Dec. 11, with total of 175 people attending.
The program is open to students from junior kindergarten to grade 5. Expansion to grades 6, 7 and 8 would be considered in the future.
The school has always been controversial.
Opponents have said children should learn together and not be segregated according to their race.
Supporters say the curriculum -- which would be open to all students - could help reduce the high drop-out rate among black students in the city.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Galit Solomon
