Should Baltimore hit pause on school closures? Here’s where school board candidates stand.

All four candidates for the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners agree: The district needs to change how it closes schools.

How to make that happen is up for debate.

Some of the candidates vying for two seats on Baltimore’s school board in November’s election have proposed a moratorium on school closures. They say the annual process is traumatizing. It pits families from undersized, underperforming or poorly managed schools against their school district leaders and often leaves buildings vacant for years, attracting arson and vandalism.

Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Jermaine Dawson just saved two schools from closure as he takes a more comprehensive look at all of the district’s schools. Charter school closures, however, are still on the table.

We asked school board candidates if they’d support a pause on school closures. Here’s where they stand.

In support of a school closure pause

Ashley “Ash” Esposito

Incumbent Ashley “Ash” Esposito has sent her colleagues a draft of a three-year school closure moratorium. She ran on the issue in 2022.

“Schools existing attract families. So if you eliminate the school, for all you know, in 10 years, you’re deterring a family from living in that community,” said Esposito. “These aren’t just buildings. ... These are where people have memories. It’s a matter of historical preservation.”

Esposito has voted to close schools before. She supported shuttering Edgewood Elementary after seeing how few kids attended and how that limited the services the school could provide.

But she said school board members have the power to slow down the process and consider factors like funding and the impact of school choice.

Jamar Day

A school closure moratorium is part of Jamar Day’s campaign platform. During a potential pause, he’d expect the board to analyze which schools have closed and in which neighborhoods, he said. He expressed concern about vacant schools languishing for years and becoming a “public health nuisance,” attracting crime and critters.

Day’s nephew attended the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys, the now-shuttered all-boys charter school. The honor-roll basketball player was thriving, Day said, and then everything was “pulled from underneath him.”

Day said as a school board member, he’d want to consider longer probation periods for struggling schools and offer them help.

“You have a lot of schools kind of in limbo. They’re like, ‘Should I paint this wall if we’re going to close down in two years? Should I start this new program?’” said Day. “We need to come up with a solidified plan that we can stick to over the next five to 10 years.”

Domonique Flowers

Candidate Domonique Flowers also supports a moratorium on school closures. He wants a closer examination of the factors that lead to school closures: Did those schools lose funding? Which schools are in danger of getting shut down? Is population loss to blame?

And if a school has to close, Flowers would want to make sure students who are getting meals or other resources there can continue to receive them elsewhere.

Against a school closure pause

Kwame’ Jamal Kenyatta-Bey

Incumbent board member Kwame’ Jamal Kenyatta-Bey said he wouldn’t support a solution as broad as a pause on school closures.

“When we look at a moratorium, it’s such a blanket sort of analysis,” said Kenyatta-Bey. “A blanket analysis never really covers the waterfront.”

Kenyatta-Bey said that when he considers whether to close a school, he wants to know how its students fare after graduating, whether the school district supports it when it struggles, and what resources students receive, such as special education and arts classes.

Kenyatta-Bey supports Dawson’s plan to take a step back and examine how the district closes schools. He would also like to determine whether it makes sense to keep funding schools based solely on student enrollment. He wants to make sure all children get the best education through an equitable distribution of funds.

“Baltimore City is fighting a battle that came from years of neglect,” said Kenyatta-Bey. “Therefore, there’s an unevenness that has to be smoothed out.”

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.