Recently, the Baltimore
City School Board announced that several City Schools will be
closing or renovated within the next ten years.
Low enrollment and outdated facilities have been the main concern of
Baltimore City School officials. Each
school building in the city was evaluated and became a part of an intense intervention
for the much desired update to the school buildings. Some schools will receive basic updates at
the end of the ten years, while others are facing more immediate “solutions”
including school closure.
For some communities,
the news that their school is being closed has been cause for an uproar. Some communities have protested at school
board meetings while others have even taken legal action in response to the
news.
In particular, the community of
Northwestern High and some of its highly successful alumni have filed a lawsuit
claiming that the decision is discriminating against low-income, minority
groups. The counterargument is that most
schools in Baltimore City have similar demographics to Northwestern and are
able to supply their students with an updated facility and effective teaching
resources – unlike Northwestern High School.
If the decision was truly meant to deprive low-income, minority
students, the majority of schools in the city would be closed.
But, while parents and
alumni are concerning themselves with saving a fallen building, I think that they
should be more concerned about where their children are destined to go after
the school is closed. While Forest Park High
School, the school students are being transferred to, is benefiting greatly from the reconstruction of Baltimore City Schools, their recent
test scores have fallen even below that of the dismal
scores of Northwestern.
In the case of Northwestern students I would pose the question: can a
new building be the answer for both school communities? Will glossy hallways and up-to-date art
centers be the answer to failing schools?
Forest Park will also experience a school that is running at full
capacity; will this help students be career and college ready? And if Forest Park does not prove to offer
the turn around it appears the school board is claiming it will be, what are
the other options?
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