Parents in Baltimore, Maryland, are calling on officials to fix Baltimore City Public Schools after an investigation revealed zero students at nearly two dozen schools tested proficient in math at their grade level on state assessments last year.
According to ABC15 News, at 23 of 150 public schools assessed on the 2022 Maryland State Department of Education test known as MCAP (Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program), not one student tested at their current grade level in mathematics. The state tests every student between the third and eighth grades annually in math and English.
During a town hall meeting at Edmondson Westside High School on Feb. 8, several parents expressed their anger at the school district for passing their children through grades despite them being unable to read. Parents called for a new curriculum, while others want Baltimore school administrators to resign.
One parent named Judy Bellamy told the school commissioners that something had to be done immediately. “Some of our kids are afraid to go to school,” she said. “They’re not going to make it if we don’t do something now!”
“Our kids are not caught up, but we’re passing them,” said another parent. “But they can’t read.”
Another parent named Nichelle Watkins was so worried about her son’s education that she wrote a letter to WBFF News alerting them of the poor public school system. She told the outlet that her son and daughter learn nothing at school.
“Nothing up there for them,” said a tearful Watkins. “Nothing. They go there to get babysat for eight hours and come home, and I feel like they don’t care. It’s not their children. They don’t care.”
Watkins’ son is a fourth grader at Johnston Square Elementary School. She said that she begged the school to hold her son back because he’s unable to read. Watkins said that the school kept passing her son through each grade despite not teaching him to read, prompting…
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