Three teachers whose jobs were impacted when a private Islamic high school abruptly shut down, are opening up a new “leadership academy” in the hopes of giving dozens of displaced students a viable alternative.

The move comes just days before the new school year begins.

Long-time teachers and employees Riyad Khan, Omar Essawi and Ali Haroon, were in the midst of preparing for the new term at the Islamic Foundation School in east Toronto, when they heard last week that the high school would not be re-opening in September.

“No one imagined it would lead to this,” said Khan, who has taught at IFS for 11 years, and was one of 35 teachers to unionize in May. “We thought at the most it would give us a way to negotiate in fair dealings with each other,” he said, adding he resigned from IFS last week, but never received a formal layoff notice.

Once the closure was announced, the three teachers quickly sprang into action to open up the Gibraltar Leadership Academy — a project they have been working on for the last year, Khan said.

About 50 students, many from IFS, have already registered for the school, said Essawi, who was a non-unionized staffer and former student at IFS.

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