The Baltimore City School Board of Commissioners approved the closures of seven schools Tuesday night; effectively completed the closing of another campus after relocating one high school program; and as expected, deferred the closure of two more schools.
The board also approved new governing boards for Frederick Douglass, Patterson and Northwestern high schools. At Douglass, Johns Hopkins University will manage the high school within the city school system, similar to the smaller Talent Development High School model run by Hopkins.
The board approved the closure of Thomas G. Hayes Elementary and Dr. Lillie M. Jackson Elementary this summer; Southeast Middle School next year; the closure of Pimlico, Canton and Lombard middle schools in 2009; the merger of Lafayette Elementary with Calverton Middle into an elementary/middle institution; and the move of Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts to Harlem Park from the soon-to-be closed Southwestern campus.
In October 2005, the School Board decided to reduce the square footage of the school system by 15 percent over a three-year period after receiving a mandate from the state Department of Education, the state legislature and Interagency Committee on School Construction because of excess capacity.
School commissioners also approved the alternative governance restructuring of four Cherry Hill neighborhood elementary/middle schools to be co-chaired by Towson University with the Baltimore City Public School System.
Cherry Hill Elementary/Middle, Dr. Carter G. Woodson Elementary/Middle and Arundel Elementary/Middle have all failed to meet Annual YearlyProgress benchmarks for several years. Their goverance, along with Patapsco Elementary Middle, in the first year of its mandated School Improvement process, is expected to be co-chaired by Towson University?s Jeff Grotsky, a former Baltimore City academic advisor and chief of staff, and Lynda Chinia, the school system?s chief academic officer.
The Cherry Hill schools will function as neighborhood zoned schools, with the same budget as other BCPSS elementary/middle institutions, but will have greater discretion on how to spend their funding, similar to city charter models.
