Baltimore school board votes to not renew charter for Collegiate School for Boys

The Baltimore City Public School Board voted on Wednesday to not renew the charter for the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys (BCSB).

The board voted 6 to 4 in favor of not renewing the school's charter.

District leaders pointed to declining student achievement, a lack of resources for the school's special education program, and insurmountable financial issues with the school.

Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys opened in 2015, and it holds 362 fourth through eighth-grade students, intending to prepare them for high school and college.

Former students reminisce about BCSB 

Last week, former students put together an event in an effort to save the public charter school.

They credited the school with their success.

"Honestly, this brotherhood created who I am today," former student Domenic Caerry, who graduated from BCSB in 2020 and now attends the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, told WJZ. "I wouldn't be trying to be a children's trauma therapist today. I wouldn't be in college, and also I would be an angry boy. I was real angry before BCSB."

The school hosted its annual alumni breakfast, with many former students returning to credit the school with their success. 

BCSB is the only all-male charter school in Maryland. The school works to create an environment that teaches more than academics. It supports its students emotionally and psychologically, taking into account their home life and possible challenges. 

According to the school, nearly 90% of the boys who leave BCSB graduate from high school, and 50% of them go on to a two- or four-year college. 

"I don't think I would be as successful and as upfront about the things I want without this school," said former student Tori Holmes, who attends Loyola. "Without this school, I wouldn't be as willing to try new things, even if I fail at them, at least I know I tried."