Hopkins involved in city schools overhaul

Following the recent decision of the Baltimore School Board to close seven public schools and restructure three others, Hopkins has joined Towson University in a plan to help manage suffering public high schools in the city.

The participating colleges will address issues of poor standardized test results, under-enrollment and violence in the Baltimore City Public School System.

"All of the schools involved will have a governance board, which may include representatives from the universities, but will also include school system officials and community members," said Robert Balanz, strategic director of Hopkins' Talent Development High Schools program.

According to a recent study that appeared in Education Week magazine, Baltimore public schools matriculated only 38.5 percent of students in 2003, the second-lowest rate in the country. Only Detroit is worse.

Success at Frederick Douglass High School and the Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts will be judged by major improvements in the achievement and graduation rates of the schools with a goal to have students graduate prepared for success in college, careers and civic life.

However, specific plans have not been revealed as they are currently still in process.

"Since the discussions are on-going, the integrity of the process must be respected by not making comments that may or may not be final, said Gwendolyn Statham, senior organizational facilitator of the Talent Development High School program. "At this point, we do not have information to share."

The School Improvement Team at Douglas High School, one of three failing schools undergoing restructuring, contacted the Talent Development High School program at the Center for Social Organization of Schools, prompting Hopkins' involvement.

"All of the schools involved will have governance boards, which may include representatives from the universities but will also include school system officials and community members," Balanz said.

However, the most litigious issue belonged to the moving of Augustus Fells Savage into Hopkins-managed Talent Development School's Harlem Park complex, which also houses Harlem Park Elementary School and Middle School. The middle school is planned to close within the next two years.

"Augusta Fells Savage is not merging with the Baltimore Talent Development High School. This was mistakenly reported in the press," Balanz said.

"The schools will share the same building but will remain separate schools, each with their own designated space within the building. They will then share common facilities -- cafeteria, gym, auditorium, etc."

Community members expressed serious concerns for the safety of current students at the Talent Development High School with the addition of Augusta Fells Savage students at the hearing.

"I'm opposed to the size that's coming in and they're coming in at 700 students and I know that a school that size given that space is not conducive to a good environment, said Jeffrey Robinson, principal of the Talent Development School. "If they lower themselves down to 300-400 it'd be manageable -- it could work."

However, Augusta Fells Savage principal Angelique Simpson Marcus disagreed with the numbers publicized.

"We keep hearing Talent Development say 700 students; 700 are not moving into that space -- that is a misnomer -- 500 to 600 students [will move into the space]" she said.

Marcus argued that Augusta Fells Savage was designed as a smaller learning community but due to moratorium and the return of students to neighborhood schools from Talent Development and other city schools, her enrollment numbers have swelled.

In contrast to the nationally acclaimed program at Talent Development, Augusta Fells Savage consistently fails to reach state expectations for math and reading.

Throughout the proposal, Robinson said that Augusta Fells Savage students would have discontent because of Talent Development's affiliation with Hopkins.

"A lot of times students don't know the relationship and will think that we get more or we're able to do more because of the relationship with JHU [and it] will make them jealous or envious," he said.

In addition to possible discontent, Robinson said that he felt attendance numbers would drop next year because his students would not feel safe because of the lack of relationships between new students.

"Every school has an attendance issue, every school has fights, it is no different for Talent Development," said Marcus.

"I'm not sure if there will be resentment among the Augusta students as much as, perhaps, a realization to the educational opportunities Talent Development High School programs afford all students, said Gregg Howell, curriculum editor for Talent Development High Schools. "Perhaps Augusta students will demonstrate positive measures to enact such programs in their own school."

Robinson originally threatened to quit if the changes were approved but said that he would stay for this upcoming year.

"I don't want to go through a start up phase again; I'm tired," Robinson said.

"I'm looking at Atlanta and North Carolina as well as the surrounding counties in this area. I have viable options, I'm just one of the few people that try to be a man of his word. Though if the right opportunity comes along I'd take it," he added.

While both principals will meet on a consistently throughout the summer to plan for the best transition, animosity regarding the city school board's decision still lingers.

"I wish that Mr. Robinson would stop fighting this decision and agree to be collaborative -- we're here to serve children," Marcus said. "The decision is not going to change."