BALTIMORE — Charm City Virtual Program was created shortly after the pandemic began.
It was a way for students who were succeeding in virtual learning, to continue that journey.
Many parents say it saved their children, students who had learning difficulties or health challenges that made it hard for them to learn in traditional schools.
“It has helped him overall academically and socially you know emotionally," says Trenae Phillips-Davis.
But in November, parents got a robocall telling them the program may be closing down.
Ahsha Jeffries says she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Disappointed, scared, and lost as to what would come next," she says.
What came next was the decision to close the elementary school portion of the program, grades 2 through 5.
According to Baltimore City Public Schools allowing Charm City Virtual’s 138 current elementary students to continue their classes would cause a $1.3 million budget deficit.
Dr. Santelises proposed a recommendation, which the board approved, for Charm City Virtual middle school programs to combine with the PORT virtual learning high school and become an actual school in Baltimore city not just a virtual program.
While parents support the virtual programs becoming a real school, they say they wish they had more information on what that will look like next school year.
“They don’t know what the school is going to look like so if they are unsure what it’s gonna look like how do you think that would make parents feel of kids who will be attending that’s school," says Trenae Phillips-Davis.
Another question parents still have is what is going to happen to the second third and fourth graders who are still in the program, many of whom cannot go back to traditional school.
“Transition to home school that’s been a big conversation in our community lately is what does home school look like and how can we transition to that," says Kimbrick Knox.
WMAR reached out to Dr. Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools who sent a statement about the program;
"Like many districts across Maryland and the country, Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) will need to make reductions in its ESSER-funded programming. Currently, our two virtual learning programs are funded mostly by ESSER funding, which ends at the end of school year 2023-2024. City Schools recognizes the potential of virtual learning and hopes to continue offering a high quality full-time virtual learning opportunity for secondary students that can be sustained beyond ESSER. One example is to shift our current virtual learning programs into a single virtual learning school that serves grades 6-12. By doing this, we can leverage other funding sources and sustain this option even as ESSER funding ends. The current plan is to sunset the year-long virtual learning for students in grades 2-5 at the end of the 2023-24 school year. We will work closely with the families of the students currently in the elementary virtual learning program to find schools within the district that meet their needs."
Dr. Santelises recommendation will now have to be approved on state level in order for the two virtual programs to become one school.
