Edwin Avent has big dreams for Maryland’s only all-boys charter school: Disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline for Black boys in Baltimore and push more of those kids to attend historically Black colleges.

But for the second time in three years, that mission is at stake.

Baltimore City Public Schools officials last month recommended that the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys in Northeast Baltimore lose its charter and close at the end of the academic year.

School system officials say they’re concerned about low test scores and worry the school doesn’t have enough cash to stay open, especially since enrollment is well below the 480 students it’s allowed to have.

The boys school and its supporters are fighting for yet another chance.

Baltimore Collegiate, which enrolls roughly 300 students in grades four through eight, narrowly escaped closure in 2023. Avent’s nonprofit, the Five Smooth Stones Foundation, was granted three years to keep operating the charter school under a long list of conditions. At the time, school system leaders criticized its low test scores, high number of uncertified teachers and failure to give special education students the services they were legally entitled to.

In their recommendation to the board this fall, City Schools officials acknowledged that Baltimore Collegiate had improved instruction and gotten families more involved. But they noted its students are struggling academically, even compared to other schools with similar poverty levels. The school isn’t improving its test scores at the rate of most other schools, system officials said, and its suspension rates are higher than average.

Avent said he’d love for his school’s test scores to be higher, but as a lottery charter school, they have to take in boys as they are. Some of them start fourth grade unable to read and have to master that skill to keep up with new lessons. Their test scores reflect the schools they came from, Avent argued.

“We have to spend a lot of our time and financial resources on trying to catch our boys up,” Avent said. “You’ve got to get them to believe that they can succeed in school and then give them the supports that they may not have gotten at other places.”

To see their progress, you have to look beyond Baltimore Collegiate’s walls, Avent said. The school opened in 2015 and since its first batch of alumni finished high school in 2022, they’ve graduated at a rate of about 89%, Avent said. Comparatively, in 2023, 65.2% of boys in Baltimore City graduated high school.

Avent said Baltimore Collegiate gives boys the “discipline and structure and determination and grit” they need to push through high school. Boys dress in sharp uniforms and are taught to shake adults’ hands while looking them in the eye.

City School officials are also concerned about the charter school’s finances. Baltimore Collegiate’s operator has overspent, posted negative net assets and depleted its cash balances, district officials reported. There are $250,000 in unpaid expenses, and the school has less than 14 days of cash on hand, several weeks below the district’s 60-day threshold.

Charter schools are responsible for expenses like building maintenance and they fundraise to offset gaps in public funding. Avent said the school is caught in a long-running fight over how much funding City Schools owes its charters, and the school system recently faced public scrutiny for renewing another school’s charter despite financial red flags.

But Avent said he has plans to get back on track.

He said he’s negotiating a deal with an outside buyer to scoop up Baltimore Collegiate’s building and then lease it to them practically at cost with an option to buy, which would reduce rent by nearly $20,000 a month. Avent declined to disclose the buyer.

There are also plans to install a pre-K and a workforce development program in the school’s building as additional revenue sources, Avent said.

The Baltimore City school board will accept public comment on its annual review of schools at public meetings on Thursday and on Jan. 8. School leaders have proposed closing two traditional schools in addition to Baltimore Collegiate.

Baltimore City Council Member Odette Ramos defended the school, which is in her district, despite renewed concerns with its academic and financial performance. She was part of the community rallying cry that saved the school from closure three years ago.

“It is frustrating that we fought really hard last time and hoped that we could get to a place where we didn’t have to do this again,” Ramos said. “But the stories that I’m hearing from parents ... is that there are improvements being made and that their young person is thriving. And that’s what really counts.”

Baltimore Collegiate has again called on its community to come to its defense with a news conference and a petition with over 800 signatures.

Avent and the school’s principal, Kelvin Bridgers, told school board members in a Dec. 4 work session that Baltimore Collegiate has made enough improvements to earn more time with the boys they say need them.

“We’re changing their attitude about education, about our belief in them, that we believe they can do well,” Avent said.

The school board will decide their fate on Jan. 14.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.