The Baltimore City school board voted to close Edgewood Elementary School Tuesday night, a decision that will impact 134 students.

The school, located in Mount Holly, will close at the end of the school year. Edgewood students will be redirected to two nearby schools: Gwynns Falls Elementary School and Windsor Hills Elementary/Middle School.

The decision to close was based on the school’s continued declining enrollment. The board voted 6-3 to close, with one commissioner absent. Commissioners Mujahid Muhammad, Khalilah Slater Harrington and Dylan Rooks voted against the recommendation.

The board also voted to keep two other schools previously recommended for closure open, though with conditions.

Originally, the city’s school system recommended Creative City Public Charter School in Towanda-Grantley and Southwest Baltimore Charter School in Washington Village/Pigtown not reopen at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.

Edgewood is the city’s smallest traditional elementary school, while Creative City and Southwest Baltimore are both charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated and must receive a charter from the school board to operate.

In November, the school system’s recommendations set off a flurry of opposition from school officials, parents and community members determined to keep kids’ classrooms open. Parents swore their kids were thriving despite the system’s concerns about class sizes and test scores. School officials at both charters pleaded for a little more time to right the ship.

The situation was especially desperate at Southwest, where some of the 363 students faced their second school closure in two years. They’d attended Steuart Hill Academic Academy, a few blocks away, which closed in 2023 after a hard-fought, parent-led appeal.

The school system hosted two public comment periods to gather feedback on its recommendations. Creative City and Southwest advocates dominated one held last week. Southwest even hosted a viewing party, where applause and cheers erupted whenever someone made the case for keeping Southwest open.

But Tuesday night, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises said she’d updated her recommendations for those two charters.

Santelises recommended that Creative City receive a three-year charter renewal with conditions. The board sided with that suggestion. The school, which has 210 students, will need to do better in academics, ensure strong financial management and improve the capacity and effectiveness of its teachers to keep operating.

Upon receiving unanimous approval, audience members wearing green in support of their school clapped and shook pom poms in the air.

Things were far more somber for Southwest Baltimore Charter School. Santelises recommended that the school’s charter operator not be renewed and that Southwest transition to a traditional school for the upcoming school year.

That recommendation was also unanimously adopted. But this time, there were no cheers. Community members, some sporting school gear, started leaving the room as Board Chair Robert Salley gave his closing remarks.

He had to speak over the crying of one student, who was embraced by others before she left the board room.

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.