State Delegate calls for firings as 41% of Baltimore High Schoolers earn below 1.0 GPA

BALTIMORE (WBFF) - A stunning Project Baltimore report about how poorly city students performed this school year, has one state lawmaker calling for school administrators to be fired. But some City leaders have a different response.

“This is a real crisis. A crisis that needs outside of the box thinking,” said Maryland Delegate Nino Mangione, a Republican who represents Baltimore County.

“That is horrible. That is terrible,” added Clarence Mitchell IV, Tuesday morning during the “C4 and Bryan Nehman Show” on WBAL Radio.

Mitchell and Mangione are both reacting to a Project Baltimore investigation that found in the first three quarters of this school year, 41% of all Baltimore City high school students, earned below a 1.0 grade point average – that’s less than a D average.

ALSO READ | Baltimore City Schools: 41% of high school students earn below 1.0 GPA

“What are you doing to prepare them for life? You’re not,” said Mitchell during the show.

“We have an obligation to prepare and protect these students to give them the best chance in the future. When there is not even outrage among their own leaders, how can you expect there to ever be change,” Mangione told Project Baltimore.

In the second quarter of the 2019/2020 school year, before COVID hit, 24% of high school students earned below a 1.0 GPA. With that number now at 41 percent, City Schools explained to Project Baltimore in a statement on Monday, “The COVID-19 pandemic created significant disruptions to student learning. Starting this summer and beyond, City Schools is providing students with a variety of opportunities to acquire the unfinished learning they lost.”

Fox45 News reached out to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott for his reaction concerning nearly half the high school students in his city earning less than a D average this year. His press person responded, “Due to a tight schedule today, he will likely not have time.”

But Project Baltimore was able to catch up with Baltimore City Council member John Bullock, a member of the education committee. Tuesday morning, he attended an event announcing a $1 million investment in city youth programs. At that even, Fox45 News asked him if the lack of success is acceptable.

“One of the realities that we dealt with this past year with the pandemic is a lot of young people struggle, a lot of families struggle. On one hand, we talk about this unique circumstance were a lot of young people have not been able to be academically successfully given some of the challenges they are facing. But from an overall perspective to look at not just the investments in education and recreation, but also family support,” said Bullock. “We definitely want to see our young people succeed to be able to get further education and career development. Thank you.”

“I know it’s a challenging issue. But we should look at some of these leaders in the administration and think, let’s evaluate and let’s start firing people. Because this can’t go on. This cannot go on. People need to lose their jobs for this,” Mangione told Project Baltimore.

“I want you to watch where this story goes with Project Baltimore because I think we are only at the surface. Forty-one percent of Baltimore City high school students under 1.0. That’s obscene,” concluded Mitchell on his radio show.

Council member Robert Stokes, the Chair of the Education Committee for Baltimore City, said in a statement, “These numbers are disturbing, but it is not a surprise that COVID worsened student performance. Haphazard approaches haven't solved anything. Our children live in poverty or are surrounded by it every day. Until we address poverty and the systems that allow it to thrive, our children will continue to fail.”

ALSO READ | City student passes 3 classes in four years, ranks near top half of class with 0.13 GPA

When Fox45 News broke the story about failures at Augusta Fells, a school in West Baltimore, Stokes held a hearing with the CEO of City Schools. We asked if he may hold a similar hearing concerning this story which involved the entire school system. He did not answer the question.