The upcoming scheduled closing of many Baltimore City Schools in June is a great concern to the students and the staff of these schools. The high schools designated to close are Homeland Security Academy, Samuel L. Banks, and Thurgood Marshall. Some of these schools offered a unique curriculum which will not be duplicated in another school. All of the staff of the schools that are closing must submit a volunteer transfer form or attend the Job Fair scheduled for May 9th. Any school that is closing received a notice from the central office to start packing. Many schools have not started packing because their shipment of boxes has not arrived.
With the looming lay off of 179 people from the central office, the staff of closing schools is concerned with competing for the vacant positions in other schools. Rumors of “bumping” are spreading. “Bumping” would allow a person with more seniority to take a position from someone with less seniority. If at least 130 of the persons to be laid off come back into schools, this should be a concern for the staff of all schools. Most of the persons scheduled to be released from their central office position have more than 20 years of service to BCPSS. The morale of the faculty at all of the schools identified to close is low but yet, they are expected to continue to work diligently to have their students pass the scheduled assessments and make AYP.
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I have been following this site for a number of months now. I am not an educator but I am considering a career change as an educator. My only frame of reference is the description of the city school system on this blog. It seems painfully apparent that the traditional education system has failed in the city of Baltimore and that the "solutions" past and present will not solve the problem. My challenge to understand is what then is "the solution?" Those of you in graduate schools learning the educational theory required to be a successful educator must take that theory and create a new system. What does this new school look like? Does it have more but smaller schools located within communities? Does it have (gulp) longer hours where the students have a sense of belonging and safety? Does it have (gulp again) less structure and more opportunity for the students? How about before and after traditional school hours programming that is part of the curriculum?
As I said, this is not my area of expertise but you have convinvced me that the system is broken! Can it be fixed? And by whom?
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