Baltimore community pushes back as charter school faces closure

Parents and students are fighting to keep open an East Baltimore charter school that the district says isn't making the grade. Baltimore City Public Schools recommends closing Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys at the end of the year.

In a November report, the district said it should not renew the charter school. 

The report says the school is "not effective" in academics and financial management. The charter school, founded by Five Smooth Stones Foundation, Inc. in 2015, enrolls more than 300 4th through 8th-graders.

The district says the school is lacking in both reading and math scores. The school says it provides additional tutoring and wrap-around services for its students.

It also says that many students are already behind, often reading years behind grade level, when they enroll at the charter school.

On Thursday, Dec. 11, the Board of School Commissioners is hosting the first of two public hearings about the proposed closures. The second meeting will be on January 8.

The board will vote on annual review and operator renewals on January 14.

The district also recommends Dallas F. Nicolas, Sr. Elementary and Renaissance Academy High close their doors because of low enrollment.

CEO defends school's metrics

Edwin Advent, Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys CEO, says the school tries to close the educational gap.

"It's more than just what happens on a test, you've got to build character," Advent said.

Advent says his students are on par with other male students in the district.

"When you take the girls' data out and just look at the boys, we match them," Advent said. "If they close one school, they need to close 12. The difference between our school and those schools is the graduation rates. Our boys graduate [from high school] at 90% [and] theirs at 60%."

Advent says the school's goal is for students to graduate and go on to college, trade school, or the military, which he says will break the school-to-prison pipeline.

In terms of the school's finances, Advent blames the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, the state's sweeping education reform package. He says that after it took effect, his school received $800,000 less in public funding each of the last three years.

"It's not financial management," Advent said. "It is the fact that our resources have been dwindled by them, and we had to raise more money from the private sector."

Charter school vs. public school funding

This is the latest in the battle between publicly funded charter schools and public school districts. 

The Maryland State Department of Education and State Board of Education created a draft regulation this week, which would create a specific formula for how charter schools should be funded.

Local school systems are required to fund charter schools proportionally to other public schools, but as of right now, there is no funding formula.

The proposed regulation would align charter school funding with the legislation for the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, a plan developed to increase spending for schools in underfunded areas. The regulation would also establish an administrative fee for shared services. 

The fight to keep the school open

Students say they don't want their school to close, adding that their teachers are mentors, helping them both inside and outside of the classroom.

"I've learned how to properly shake another man's hand and look him in the eye while we are having a proper conversation," Davon Curry, a seventh grader, said.

"They also teach us plenty of other things, how to read, how to read properly, do fractions, and more," added Loghan Bowman, a fifth grader. "I really like the school, and I hope it stays open."

Parents say the school is an opportunity for their children and should serve as the model for the entire city, rather than be taken away.

"I'm tired of hearing that our Black boys are just lost. They're not lost," said parent Jeanine Kelly. "You just won't give them the direction, and here's a school that's giving them the direction and breaking that generational curse, and you're going to tell them no."

This isn't the first time the district has threatened to close the charter school's doors. 

In 2023, a similar effort was made by the district, saying the school had operational difficulties spanning from missing paperwork to data entry errors.