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The move by the É«É«À² District School Board has prompted hundreds of  and write to trustees, senior board staff and even the Ministry of Education, calling for a reversal.

“We’re all very upset,” said Anwyn Lillington in Grade 11, adding that students are planning a walkout Thursday and have started a social media account called Save Sketchley.

“He cares so much about all that goes on in the school and all the students — it’s just really heartbreaking,” said Lillington, president-elect of next year’s student council.

“We all feel very strongly that Mr. Sketchley has served us all so well for so, so long and he deserves to either move or retire on his own terms. And we’re all upset by the fact that he doesn’t have any say in this decision.”

The TDSB will not comment on why Sketchley is being moved. And Sketchley told the Star that he’s not permitted to speak with the media about this.

In that vacuum of information, there’s been a great deal of rumour and speculation swirling among students and parents about why the board is moving Sketchley, the longest-serving principal in TDSB history with 42 years in that role.

Some question if Sketchley is being moved because he is being nudged into retirement. Or if it’s because he’s been critical of the board’s controversial policy on admission to specialized programs that replaced merit-based assessments with an interest-based lottery and is now handled centrally, rather than by local schools. Or if it’s because he allowed some students to transfer into the school, which runs contrary to the lottery. Or if it’s because he wanted a say in who his successor would be upon retirement.

A TDSB letter to the school community earlier this week shed no light on the issue, when it announced Sketchley will become principal of Harbord Collegiate Institute next year. He will be replaced by Joseph Ghassibe, who’s currently vice-principal at Central Technical School.

“Mr. Sketchley has been a caring, dedicated and exceptional leader who has touched the lives of thousands of students and families over his decades-long principalship at Rosedale Heights,” reads the letter by a superintendent. “I sincerely thank him for his outstanding service to students. Please join me in wishing him well at his new school.”

Trustee Deborah Williams, who represents the ward, told the Star that this transfer is not about pushing Sketchley into retirement. “He could work for the next five years, who knows.”

Williams said there was nothing in particular that sparked the transfer, adding that private and confidential discussions between the TDSB and the principal have been going on for more than two years. 

News of the transfer delivered a blow to the school community, said Katrina Matheson, chair of the school’s parent council, adding many “upset” parents say their kids are “devastated.”

“It’s a shocking development,” said Matheson. “No one believed that this could be possible, to move someone who’s been there that length of time.”

Sketchley is credited with transforming Rosedale into a vibrant arts school and with making it an inclusive space, especially for kids who are LGBTQ.

“I love working with young people, seeing them mature, watching where they’re going, helping them get there,” Sketchley told CTV É«É«À² for a 2023 feature. “There’s lots of laughter along the way as well as tears.”

Grade 12 student Dylan Follett, who’s the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, said students are “really mad” and unanimous in their opposition to the transfer.

“A transition like this is going to be really bad for the school,” said Follett. “I know (Sketchley) will have to retire soon, but there’s a better way to transition to a new principal, as opposed to pushing him out. 

“Students here really, really love Rosedale and they really, really love Mr. Sketchley because in many ways Mr. Sketchley is Rosedale.”

His comments were echoed by Hailey Jackson, who’s in Grade 11. Jackson said Sketchley is “an integral part” of the school, noting he helped found the school 33 years ago, when it transitioned from a vocational school to an arts school. 

“He’s an incredible principal. He’s supportive, he’s caring and he’s kind of the face of Rosedale,” she said.

Mother Sandi Danilowitz said her transgender son, Jay, who’s in Grade 9, started the academic year at another high school, which wasn’t a good fit for him. She spoke with administrators there and was told that transferring a student to a school like Rosedale, after the start of the year, wasn’t possible.

But in a moment of desperation, she called Sketchley, who listened compassionately and recognized Jay’s need to be in a school that felt safe and supportive. Sketchley helped to make the transfer happen, she said, calling him “a change maker.”

“I never had a principal stick their neck out like that. I was blown away,” she told the Star. “That kind of energy and dogged determination to have it happen, it’s rare.

 “He’s not just a figurehead, he’s so much more.”