School board vote on Baltimore Charter school renewal reaches stalemate

By Kim Dacey

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    BALTIMORE (WBAL) — No decision was made Thursday night, on whether to renew the charter of the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys in east Baltimore. The Board of School Commissioners voted on the issue, but did not have a majority.

The board discussed the issue for over two hours, even going into a closed session at one point. But the vote was split five to five on whether to renew the school’s charter. They ultimately voted to defer the vote until their next meeting.

City Schools CEO Sonja Santelesis recommended renewing with several conditions, like hiring more qualified teachers, complying with course requirements and school discipline procedures. Some board members expressed concern about whether the school would be able to make those changes given that their charter was renewed three years ago with conditions as well.

The school’s CEO, Edwin Avent, watched the virtual meeting at the school and said they put in a new leadership team to address the issues, and they’re hopeful the board will give them the opportunity to continue their work.

“We feel that though the vote did not (pass), you know, there was not a definite answer on the vote tonight, we’re optimistic that members of the board, if they give a little more time and consideration, that they may see that the moves that we made, the recommendations of not only the CEO, but her Office of New Initiative, who worked closely with us that really worked with us to get us to the new direction,” Avent said.

The board will take up the issue for a vote again at their meeting on Tuesday, Feb 28.

Leaders at the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys are making their case to Baltimore City Public Schools as to why it should stay open. The school is facing the prospect of losing their charter after this school year.

Since City Schools announced it’s in danger of losing its charter, there has been an outpouring of support for the school. People feel closing it would be detrimental to the boys in the city.

Baltimore Councilperson Odette Ramos is one of the many city officials and community members throwing their support behind the charter school in danger of being shut down.

“The young men that I’ve met and the students that are there are just really phenomenal,” Ramos said.

“I want to assure you we take all of your renewal recommendations seriously. We heard our CEO say very clearly that Baltimore Collegiate can’t fail; we do not take these words lightly,” principal of Baltimore Collegiate, Barney Wilson, said.

Earlier this week, School CEO Sonja Santelesis did recommend that the board of commissioners renew the school’s charter with several conditions, among them improving special education services, ensuring compliance with due process for student behavior, compliance with required courses, compliance with grant management and operator capacity. Wilson said they’ve addressed all of these concerns.

“I needed to come up to speed with the district’ss practices and systems, and now I think I’m fully up to speed. I understand what’s at stake; our boys are receiving required (Code of Maryland Regulations) courses. Mr. (Kelvin Bridgers) and (I) have taken the suspension training in December, and we’re ready to go,” Wilson said.

This is the first year Wilson has been principal of the school. He previously was the head of Poly High School and city leaders said they have confidence in his ability to turn things around to benefit the young men in the city, if the board votes to keep the doors open.

“Basically, they really hold our young men to a much higher standard. I mean, we have expectations for our young Black men in the city, and they just shatter it and say ‘You’ve (going to) reach higher, higher, higher,’ and those young people really do reach for those expectations,” Ramos said.

The city school board will officially vote on the school’s fate next Feb. 23.

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