(BALTIMORE – January 17, 2026) – Upon hearing the news, it took at least a day to find some calm. My spirit was vexed indeed. I was thumbing through my contacts, wondering who would hear my pleas for help. “Don’t allow this school to close,” I texted fervently. My soul was enraged. All I could think to do was pray. And text. And pray. And text again.
The Governor said he was trying to respect the boundaries, for surely this is a test of the will of the people. Yes, we once had Bluford Drew-Jemison School where our boys could feel safe. Then we get Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys. And now, Dr. Sonja Santelises thinks it best to close this school. After all, she’s leaving and she has no sons in our schools.
“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do,” sings Lauryn Hill, as the mis-education of multiple generations goes on display in real time. Where is our remembrance of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray? We are setting up yet another generation of Black males to land on cell blocks with seasoned criminals, where the options include this gang or that gang. Way to go, Dr. Santelises! Way to encourage our Black families in Baltimore, a city that is not your home. Baltimore is far from Peabody, Massachusetts. We couldn’t possibly expect the Andres Alonso prototype to understand Baltimore’s people, our culture, our needs. I cannot forgive a man who removed 75% of the principals. Who dismisses 75% of its senior leadership? Those were the people who taught generations of Black children in Baltimore. This told them they were no longer good enough. These same educators sent us to Harvard and Morehouse and yes, Dr. Santelises, even Brown and Columbia.
Academic excellence has always been in our DNA. Baltimore City Public Schools produced a Reginald F. Lewis and a Chief Judge Robert Bell long before Dr. Santelises was born. So, we know our legacy. We know that the nation’s first Black Supreme Court Justice came from Baltimore.
I am so tired of these Ivy Leaguers who don’t know shit. Theory without practical methods is pure hyperbole. I find their thoughts so smart, but they miss the mark. Jesus was known for speaking to the people, not above them.
I reminisce on the days when Kurt Schmoke called Baltimore “the city that reads.” It was so simple. It stuck with many of us. Now, illiteracy is worse than during slavery, when reading and writing were outlawed and punishable by death.
I’m crushed. Like a safe has dropped on me. My first thought is how we’ve failed to protect our sons in a world where it is easier for them to get a gun than a tuition. Yeah, I know. Blame the parents. It all starts at home. Blah blah blah. New stadiums. Old schools. New casinos. Closed rec centers – especially in the heart of the community. Cherry Hill is nice, don’t get me wrong. And so is Cahill. But in the heart of the city, where they are needed the most, recreation opportunities are not what they used to be.
I remember when Dr. Andrey Bundley and Dr. Tyrone Powers were arrested in front of the school headquarters on North Avenue. All eyes were on them. We waited outside the jail for their release. Sgt. Louis Hopson oversaw the process. He was a soldier. He was unapologetically Black. He sued the Police Department and won a multi-million-dollar discrimination lawsuit. He remains a hero, long after he was gone.
That was the last time the decisions of the Baltimore City Public School System’s Board of Commissioners reached dangerous levels, to the point that the streets were swelling. Thursday night was such an occasion, with the thermostat rising swiftly, as 60% of those charged with guiding public education in the City of Baltimore thought the need for “fiscal accountability” far outweighed the need to save lives.
Let’s talk about that “fiscal accountability.”
Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys achieves a 90% graduation rate. Read that again. Ninety percent. This, despite the fact that two-thirds of the boys who arrive at Edwin Avent’s campus are already behind in reading. The City schools failed them first, then sent them to Collegiate to fix what was broken. And Collegiate did exactly that – caught them up, graduated them, sent them into the world alive and equipped.
For this success, the system rewards them by taking 25% of their funding for “operations.” A quarter of their budget was siphoned off the top. Then, when resources are stretched thin, the same system that created the problem and took their money has the audacity to cry “fiscal accountability.”
Here’s what accountability actually looks like:
In Baltimore City, home to 40% of the state of Maryland’s incarcerated persons, a young Black man is more likely to go to prison than to a 4-year college – that is, if he’s alive. And that is the unfortunate reality.
And here’s the part that breaks my heart: across the board, Black people are in charge.
If white people were in charge, we’d be crying racism. But this time? It’s as Black as black can get in terms of City leadership. What do we say now?
Oh, I know. It’s Edwin Avent’s fault that 2/3rds of the boys sent to his campus are already behind in reading. Mind you, these boys had already failed in City schools. Oh, and don’t forget that the system takes 25% of his budget for “operations.” Their rebuttal is … it’s Avent’s fault. Plain and simple.
I’m disgusted, disturbed, and flabbergasted that THIS is the best we can do in the year 2026. Welcome to the full emasculation of Black manhood in Baltimore, because clearly, we are not capable of protecting our sons.
So what happens now?
Where do these boys go when Baltimore Collegiate closes? Back to the same schools that failed them the first time? Into streets where recreation centers have been shuttered, and options have been eliminated? Into a pipeline that leads from failing schools to cell blocks?
I question the 6 votes against this school. I hope the voters remember when the time comes.
THIS is the best we can do … in Baltimore City … the Blackest city in America.
