Families fight to save Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys before shutdown

Families tied to Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys are fighting to keep Maryland’s only all-boys public school open as the June shutdown deadline draws closer, and about 300 students now face an uncertain next step.

The Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners voted 6-4 on Jan. 14, 2026, to close the charter school at the end of the current school year after concluding it was not effective in student achievement. The school serves boys in grades 4 through 8 in East Baltimore, and since the vote, parents and relatives have been trying to figure out where their children will land next.

The most visible faces of that push are Jace and Kobe Pressley, two brothers who showed up at a rally in support of the school. Their grandmother, Leah Pressley, said Baltimore Collegiate has changed both boys in ways she has not found elsewhere. She said Jace came to the school from a traditional city school unable to read, and now he is reading at a third-grade level and improving. She said the school has given the boys structure and life skills, not just academics, and she worries another setting will not provide the same support.

For the Pressley family, the closure is not just about a school assignment. Leah Pressley said she has struggled to find another Baltimore City option that feels right and has even considered private school, which would mean taking on extra work to afford tuition. With the school slated to close in June, families are being pushed into decisions that could break up routines, relationships and support systems that have built up around Baltimore Collegiate.

Baltimore City Public Schools describes Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys as a school that prepares male students for success in college and life through a traditional liberal arts curriculum in the humanities, math, science and the arts. The district says charter schools have flexibility in staffing, programming and operations, but are still held to high standards for academic performance, equity and operational effectiveness under Maryland charter law.

The closure comes as the district continues to face enrollment pressure of its own. Baltimore City Public Schools reported official district enrollment of 76,362 students for the 2025-26 school year, down 479 from the year before. On Feb. 13, 2026, the Board of School Commissioners also issued a written report in its annual review process documenting other closure-related decisions.

Baltimore Collegiate CEO Edwin Avent said he was devastated by the vote and alleged the district did not follow its own regulations in carrying out the closure process. That dispute leaves families with one immediate reality: the school year is still underway, but the future of Baltimore’s only all-boys public school already looks set to disappear.