Baltimore (WBFF) — Time is running out to save Maryland’s only all-boys public school, which is set to close in June. Right now, families are scrambling to find another school, while not giving up hope on saving this one.
Recently, community members held a rally to save the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys. Jace and Kobe Pressley, students at the school. attended the rally out of desperation.
“I hope the school stay open,” Jace told Project Baltimore.
Next school year, the brothers will be in middle school. But as of now, it won’t be at Boys Collegiate. In January, the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners voted 6-4 to close their 4th to 8th grade charter school. Now, these brothers and 300 other students who chose to attend Boys Collegiate are scrambling to figure out what’s next.
Leah Pressley is Jace’s and Kobe’s grandmother and she loves the school.
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“A lot of these kids that go here have come from City Schools. They will not survive in that setting again. I won’t send them back,” stated Pressley. “I think the Baltimore City Schools are letting our children down. Not just Afro-American children, but all children.”
Time is running out to save Maryland’s only all-boys public school, which is set to close in June (WBFF)
Which is why the Pressley’s love Boys Collegiate in east Baltimore. At the school, Pressley says her grandchildren are thriving. When Jace started at this school in sixth grade, Pressley tells Fox45 News, he came from a traditional city school and couldn’t read.
“That was his secret. And he didn’t want anybody to know,” explained Pressley.
Now, he’s reading at a third-grade level.
“He’s catching up. He’s getting better,” Pressley told Project Baltimore.
But it’s not just the academics that drew the family here, it’s the culture. Pressley says her grandsons are learning how to be men.
“He’s learned how to put on a tie, because I didn’t know how,” said Pressley.
Following the board’s vote in January, Pressley’s been looking, but says she can’t find another Baltimore City school to send her grandchildren. She’s now considering private school.
“I’ll get an extra job. I already got three. One more won’t kill me,” explained Pressley.
Leah Pressley says she’ll get a fourth job if the Collegiate School for Boys closes in order to send her grandchildren to private school (WBFF)
When the school board voted to close Boys Collegiate the school was deemed “not effective” in student achievement – which for Pressley, makes no sense.
“Nobody is where they’re supposed to be,” Pressley told Project Baltimore. “All of the city schools, their grades are low.”
Fox45 News analyzed the data. In Baltimore City, 89 schools serve middle school students. According to the Maryland State Department of Education, out of those schools, Boys Collegiate ranks 69th in overall performance – meaning, there are 20 schools that contain middle schools in Baltimore City rated lower than Boys Collegiate – 20. But those schools are not closing.
Project Baltimore, on behalf of the Pressley family, asked Baltimore City Schools if the district was considering closing any of those 20 schools.
The district, in an email responded without answering the question writing in part, “We recognize how difficult and emotional this decision is for the students, families, staff, and community connected to Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys” adding “City Schools would be doing a disservice to these students if we allowed them to remain in a setting that is not producing the academic outcomes, services, or opportunities they deserve.”
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But families at the Collegiate School for Boys disagree with that assessment. Which was the reason for the rally. The people that go to the school want to stay there.
And that choice is being taken away from them.
Baltimore City Schools provided this statement to Fox45 News
“I’m sorry. I’m crying. They’re my future,” Pressley said of her grandsons. “That’s my legacy. I may not be here when they go to college, but I’ll be somewhere up in heaven, looking down to see them make it. That’s why I agreed to this interview. To help not just my grandsons, but everybody.”
Pressley says she will always keep hope that the school will stay open. The Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys has appealed their closure to the Maryland State Department of Education.
Follow Project Baltimore’s Chris Papst on X and Facebook. Send news tips to cjpapst@sbgtv.com
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