City Schools’ primary goal is to make sure that every student has high–quality educational experiences that support their learning and their personal growth where our students will thrive and graduate from our high schools with the skills, knowledge, and understanding to succeed in college, careers, our community and wherever their dreams will take them.  

For over a decade, City Schools has used a “portfolio” strategy to review, discuss, plan, and implement recommendations for physical and programmatic developments that best foster student learning and professional growth and have called this process “Portfolio Review.”

Words can be important indicators of what we value. While numeric data is an important component, consideration of the qualitative and lived experience of our school communities is essential to co-create quality schools for every child. Given we value a holistic approach, we have decided not to call this process “Portfolio Review” any longer and are calling it the “Annual School Review.” We have also continued to expand and shift the review process to be more inclusive and centered in the communities we serve. Please read the Annual Review Report linked below to learn more about this.

To see this year’s recommendations, please review the summary table below and select the Annual Review Report link for details on this year’s process, ongoing work of the district that impacts all of our schools, and reports for COMAR recommendations (or recommendations that are for closure, surplus, or relocation). 

On November 12, the Board of School Commissioners received the Annual Review Recommendations Report detailing the recommendations arising from this year's review. The Board will hold two opportunities to hear public comment on the recommendations –Thursday, December 12 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, January 9, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Directions on how to sign up for public comment at the Annual Review hearings can be found here: https://www.baltimorecityschools.org/o/bcps/page/public-comment-board-meetings

The Annual Review process includes reviews of our traditional schools and their facilities, as well as operator renewal, which is a review of contract schools run by outside entities, such as charter, transformation, or contract operators. For more information on operator renewal, please visit: https://www.baltimorecityschools.org/page/renewal

Annual Review hearings will be held virtually. Members of the public can access these meetings by clicking on links on the City Schools website on the Events page; the meeting link and call-in information are also available on the Board Meetings page.

The opportunity for oral testimony will be closed after completion of the January 9 hearing. The Board will also accept written comment or data until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 10, 2025. Written comment must include full identification of the sender and should be directed to the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, 200 E. North Ave., Room 406, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, or sent by email to portfoliorecommendations@bcps.k12.md.us. A summary of the recommendations appears below (mobile/PDF version). To learn the details about recommendation please review the full report linked above or each school’s individual report linked in the table below. Please also read the letter from Dr. Santelises sharing the recommendation and other ways for school communities to engage, linked in the table below.