Anticipation was high in the cafeteria of the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys as eighth graders seated at lunch tables waited for the announcement of the class valedictorian. The room lit up with smiles and applause once the student’s name was called.

But the celebration was bittersweet: the 2026 eighth grade valedictorian would be the 11-year-old charter school’s last.

The school’s doors are expected to shut permanently this week following City Schools’ decision in January not to renew the school’s charter. Edwin Avent, the school’s CEO, has appealed that decision, but said it would be hard to reopen at this late date.

Staff and alumni, some of who now are entering law school or interning in local government, say the decision to revoke the school’s charter overlooked indicators of student success and instead relied on disputed recommendations.

For instance, students who attended the school, which serves 4th to 8th graders, are more likely to graduate from high school on time compared to the rest of the school system.

The overall high school graduation rate for Baltimore schools was just under 72% in 2025. During the same year, 86% of Baltimore Collegiate’s students graduated on time, according to Avent.

“This is the standard of Baltimore Collegiate. This is the standard of Black excellence,” said D’Jibril Barry, a member of the first graduating class in 2018. “Baltimore Collegiate instilled that in me, just looking like my best self every day.”

“I wouldn’t have had the same opportunities if I didn’t go to Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys,” said Barry, who graduated from Delaware State University this spring and will begin law school this summer at Rutgers University.

• A “Stop the Close” rally is planned in front of City Hall at 5 p.m. this Thursday, calling on Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council to reverse the decision.

“This school is needed! Its impact on its students resonates throughout the rest of their lives,” said Tyrone Bost, of the affordable housing group H.O.M.E.S., in a statement provided to The Brew. “We cannot afford to lose another generation of our black boys.”

Even if he wins the appeal, Avent said it would be very difficult to continue the school given how many parents – hearing of its troubles with the City Schools in recent years – have pulled their children out, shrinking the school’s enrollment and finances and adding to the argument for contract non-renewal.

“We wanted something better for future generations, and we were building that,” Avent told The Brew. “We’re glad we were able to give 11 years of that, and we’re sorry we won’t be able to give more at this time.”

“It’s dire, but there’s always a chance,” Bost said, who is calling on the community to pressure decisionmakers to intervene.

Closure Process Questioned

To some, the case of Baltimore Collegiate demonstrates flaws in the school closure process.

“Closure decisions have been made without transparent processes, meaningful community input or clear plans for the students, educators, and families left in the wake of those decisions,” Jamar Day wrote, in a statement as part of his candidacy in the June 23 primary for a seat on the city school board.

“Within my first 100 days, I would push for a moratorium on all school closures until the board [of education] can demonstrate a clear, community-informed plan for every student, educator and family affected,” Day wrote.

School Commissioner Ashley Ash Esposito, who is running to keep her seat on the board in the June 23 Democratic primary, has also called for a moratorium.

The criticism came in the wake of a decision by a majority of board members that Collegiate must close because of what it characterized as low test scores and unsustainable cash flow.

Baltimore Collegiate was the only charter school, among seven under scrutiny, to be ordered closed by non-renewal by the end of the 2025-2026 school year. The others were renewed for either three or five years. The year before, Southwest Baltimore Community School’s contract to be a charter was not renewed and it continues as a traditional public school. The changes leave the total number of charter schools in the city at 31.

Avent is CEO of Five Smooth Stones, the school’s operator organization. Charter schools in Maryland are publicly funded but privately managed, and they must be approved by the school board to open and operate.

A Mission to Empower

Baltimore Collegiate was founded more than a decade ago as the city’s first all-boys charter school. Its goal was to prepare students for college by building student’s confidence in themselves and their ability to succeed.

Going to college has historically been low for Baltimore City school students. Those enrolling in college immediately after senior year remained at less than 50% between 2011-2020, according to the Baltimore Education Research Consortium.

Baltimore Collegiate aimed to build confidence by giving boys examples to look up to, opportunities to hold leadership positions, opportunities to speak in front of their peers and holding them to strict dress code standards.

Students volunteer to recite the school’s motto and creed in front of the rest of the school in the morning, and they take turns serving as a class ambassador, greeting anyone walking into the classroom with eye contact, a handshake and summary of current activities.

The boys are referred to as gentlemen, and they wear a button-down shirt with a tie for the majority of the year. (Polo shirts are worn during the first and last months of the school year.)

The school also gives students a sense of expectations for academic and professional excellence. The hallways outside the alumni center are lined with college flags and the success stories of past graduates who went on to college, including prestigious historically Black colleges and universities.

Students are separated into different “houses” that include multiple grades to instill a sense of comradery between boys of all ages, while also holding pride for the name of their house. The houses are named after Morgan State University and other prominent HBCU’s.

For Dominic Cherry, a 2019 alumnus, seeing successful Black men was a huge source of inspiration.

“It meant everything to me, watching people that used to go to the school actually make it and go to college and become something,” said Cherry, a rising senior at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.

“When I went back to the school, I could see it in these boys, how their eyes lit up just seeing college students that look like them come into the room and talk to them,” he said.

A Divided Vote

But City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises, guided by the charter and the operator-led Schools Advisory Board, shot down any chance Baltimore Collegiate had for renewal once its latest performance scores came in.

Performance scores are determined by the Advisory Board, which looks at a school’s effectiveness in student achievement, finance and governance and climate. Based on the scores, the CEO makes a recommendation of renewal, renewal with conditions or non-renewal of the charter school’s contract to school commissioners.

The board then reviews the recommendation, along with testimony from the school operator and public hearings, and comes to a final decision of whether to approve the CEO’s recommendation or not.

Previously, Baltimore Collegiate was renewed in 2020 and in 2023, but both times with conditions.

The ultimate recommendation by the CEO and the Advisory Board gave Baltimore Collegiate the lowest score possible for two of the three effectiveness criteria: student achievement and finance.

The commissioners were reminded, during January’s meeting, that no charter school with such scores had their contract renewed by City Schools before. Non-renewal was recommended by a split 6-4 vote. One commissioner was absent and another abstained.

“We recognize how difficult and emotional this decision is for the students, family, staff and community connected to Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys, and we do not take that lightly” read a statement by City Schools’ Chair Robert Salley at the time of the announcement.

“At the same time, the CEO and Board of School Commissioners have a responsibility to ensure that every student has access to a high-quality education, the academic support they need and a school environment that can fully support their growth and success,” the statement continued.

What the Metrics Missed

During deliberations, several school board commissioners expressed skepticism about the metrics used to determine the school’s low academic performance scores. Its Math and English standardized test scores improved since 2023, they noted, but apparently did not improve enough compared to the rest of the system.

Avent and others pointed out that the metric used to score the all-boys school did not weigh it alongside schools with similar demographics. They also complained that no credit was given for the fact that students from Baltimore Collegiate were more likely to graduate from high school on time than other city students.

The low financial score stemmed from concern about the school’s allocation of grant funds and its financial stability.

A report noted that none of the allocated Title II grant funds for three years and Title IV funds for two years were spent by the school, and that, overall, its spent only about 76% of the grant funds that were allocated.

The school had negative net assets over the last three years, decreasing cash balances and had operated with insufficient cash on hand.

Avent chalked up the school’s financial woes to decisions that the city and state made.

During the 2023 renewal process, City Schools told Avent that it was likely they were not going to renewal of the school’s charter and to notify families as soon as possible.

By the time the board decided to recommend renewal with conditions, Avent said the damage was done. Baltimore Collegiate had 480 students during the 2023 fiscal year. In fiscal 2024, the number of enrolled students plummeted to 326.

During the same period, the amount of funds budgeted to the school dropped from $4 million to $2.9 million, according to the school’s budget snapshot. And the adjusted allocated budget for the school also dropped, from about $7 million to $4.5 million.

Days after last January’s vote to close the school, the Maryland State Board of Education ruled that City Schools had exceeded its 2% administrative fee assessed to charter schools and had overcharged the schools by millions of dollars. The state ordered the city to readjust fourth-quarter services and buybacks by the end of June 2026.

“If we had gotten that financial ruling from the state a month earlier, or two weeks earlier, I think it would have been enough to sway those board members who were on the fence,” Avent said.