Charter Schools - Educating a Community

October 2005

Charter Schools: Educating a Community
By Christina Dushel

“We want to be a part of the transformation of education.”—City Neighbors’ Bobbi Macdonald, parent, about the goal of the charter school movement.

There’s plenty of hope breezing through each open door of Baltimore City’s charter schools—a door that potentially opens to collaboration, creativity and energy for all public schools. Here’s hoping.

Imagine a public school where every family agrees to give 60 volunteer hours. What about a public school that will provide family advocacy teams to help parents of students obtain needed health care or earn their GED?
These opportunities are happening this school year in some of Baltimore City’s charter schools. They illustrate one exemplary benefit of charters, a benefit that enables a public school to tailor its program to meet the needs of individual communities.
Charters are public schools. In Baltimore City, they function under the authority of the public school system, but they have the autonomy to make individual decisions about curriculum and instruction.
As a result of the charter school law passed by the general assembly in 2003, a number of public schools have earned this new designation. These schools can be organized by teachers, administrators, parents, local non-profit organizations or by universities—but they cannot be affiliated with religious groups.
Extensive application processes must be followed and federal grants are available, beginning with pre-planning grants and continuing through planning and design and implementation. New charter schools are eligible for as much as $400,000 in federal grants over 36 months.
Like all public schools in Maryland, charter schools are accountable for students’ progress. All students must take the Maryland State Assessments (MSAs), teachers must meet state certification requirements and school buildings must meet all health and safety standards.
But there are differences. Charter schools can be governed by boards of directors or by non-profit organizations. These schools are free to choose their own curriculum, set their own schedule for the school day and hire teachers and administrators. Their missions are tied to the needs of the families in their communities.
Three local charter schools exemplify how unique, autonomous approaches can reflect the character of a community.

City Springs Elementary School
City Springs Elementary School, located in southeast Baltimore, is an existing independent public school that has obtained charter status this year.
Since 1996, it had functioned with relative autonomy as a part of the city’s New School Initiative when the non-profit Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) began operating the school. Before 1996, City Springs was one of the worst-performing schools in Baltimore, placing near the bottom of a list of nearly 120 elementary schools. However, with BCP guidance, City Springs moved up to rank second in the city, based on the 2002-03 standardized test results. And, in several categories—including first grade reading and math and fifth grade reading—it placed first.
Muriel Berkeley, director of the BCP, explains the implications of City’s Springs’ recent charter school designation: “This will not be a huge change for us. It will allow us to continue the work we have been doing and having continued autonomy. We can apply for federal grants, which will provide the ability for school and faculty to attend to needs of our particular student body.”
The BCP oversees the workings of City Springs, a 400-student school with grades pre-kindergarten to eight. With help from the city school system, the non-profit evaluates administrators at City Springs, develops budgets, collects data on children, meets with the principal and team of lead teachers to review academic achievement at weekly meetings and attends School Improvement Team and Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meetings. With charter school designation, City Springs has ensured that it will continue to use Direct Instruction and Core Knowledge, two curricula that the school has been using for 10 years.
Principal Bernice Whelchel explains how continued autonomy as a charter will be advantageous for the students: “City Springs is a community school. We can continue using the Direct Instruction curriculum that has been working effectively for our students by giving them the needed structure to help them be successful.”
City Springs’ affiliation with the Baltimore Curriculum Project frees Whelchel to be where she is most needed—in her school, focusing on her students while the BCP attends meetings at North Avenue as representatives of City Springs.
“We provide a very safe environment,” declares Whelchel. “Parents take great pride in what their children are learning.”
Sharone Henderson, president of the City Springs PTO agrees.
“This school is successful because the staff and the person in charge believe what the parents believe,” says Henderson. “Mrs. Whelchel asks for input and wants children to succeed. It starts in the building and spills over into home. That’s the opposite of problems at home spilling over into the school.”

City Neighbors Charter School
Where City Springs provides a traditional, structured curriculum, City Neighbors Charter School in North Baltimore uses a curriculum of project-based learning infused with hands-on authentic experiences and arts integration. The school opened its doors for the first time on Sept. 6 after a two-year process to gain charter status, find a school location in the neighborhood and hire staff.
It is a cooperative school that requires every family to give volunteer hours. Those hours can be given by parents, grandparents or neighbors on behalf of a family. Bobbi Macdonald, founder and board president explains, “We believe in everybody working together to make our community work.”
The idea of the school began when the community recognized a need—when the local school was unable to offer music, art or recess. The process of starting a new school to meet the community’s needs began two years ago.
“At the first meeting, there were six people in my living room,” recalls Macdonald.
From those first meetings, City Neighbors opened this year with 120 students in grades kindergarten to five, and will expand by one grade each year until the school includes a preschool class and eighth grade.
The governing board is made up of two-thirds parents and one-third community leaders, all of whom choose the curriculum, textbooks and staff, approve the budget and do the long-term planning. The principal runs the day-to-day operations at the school.
“When you give parents the power to take responsibility for public education, they love that,” MacDonald notes. “When they have the chance to create something strong, sound, and beautiful, response is overwhelming.”

Inner Harbor East Academy for Young Scholars
“Whatever those needs are, we will supply for those needs,” says Dr. Charles Simmons of Sojourner-Douglas College. Simmons is referring to the needs of the students and families of the Inner Harbor East Academy for Young Scholars.
The college, along with the East Baltimore Community Corporation, is operating this new charter school, which opened this past August. The Academy has 200 students from pre-kindergarten to third grade and plans to add one grade per year through twelfth grade.
Sojourner-Douglas College recognized the critical needs of children in east Baltimore and is providing education services that wrap around to include family services.
Simmons explains, “We believe that to bring about change, we’d have to go beyond the 8:30-2 education program that sees children go back to the environment where the day’s instruction would be neutralized. We will develop the entire family.”
To do so, Inner Harbor East Academy is creating a new educational model.
“We call our educational model an ecological model—the ecology of bringing together students, parents and the community,” says Simmons. “We want to raise the quality of life for the entire family.”
To make this happen, a family advocacy team completes a needs assessment and then an individualized family development plan for each family of the children enrolled at the Inner Harbor East Academy. Devised to meet each family’s specific needs, the development plan provides assistance such as literacy programs, GED preparation, workforce training and access to health care and even drug counseling.
All families of the students must volunteer and agree to meet the goals and timetables outlined in the plan. Faculty and students of Sojourner-Douglas as well as the East Baltimore Community Corporation help families learn how to work with each child. The school’s curriculum includes education about nutrition, a strong focus on math and science and an extended day program that will offer students programs in art, music, chess and foreign language.
“We want to maximize our impact on the child,” Simmons explains. “We think it’s important to give kids the maximum opportunity to develop.” BC

More About Charter Schools
For more information as well as a full list of charter schools in Maryland, visit the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) homepage, online at www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE. Click on “Charter Schools.”