New School Opening Will Teach In 3 Languages In Baltimore County: Reports

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD - A new language immersion school was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Baltimore County Public Schools Board of Education, multiple reports said.

The Baltimore Banner reported that the Bilingual Global Citizens Public Charter School will open in fall 2025 in eastern Baltimore County. The school will start with Kindergarten through third grade before expanding through eighth grade in the following years, The Banner said.

The school will teach half its classes in English and the other half in Chinese or French, an interest survey posted on LinkedIn said.

"There is a clear separation of language instruction to ensure that students enter the middle school years with a strong foundation in both the target language and English," the survey said.

The Banner said this will be the second charter school currently open in Baltimore County. The other is Watershed Public Charter School in Milford Mill, which was approved in 2018.

Charter schools are privately operated but publicly funded facilities. They teach public school students for free under a contract with their district. Students must apply to attend these schools of choice. Students are not automatically enrolled as they would be in their neighborhood schools.

The Baltimore Sun said the new school has not yet secured a school building. Officials told The Sun they can't reject a charter school proposal because of its facility status.

“It is important that the organization if approved has a robust plan for recruiting teachers,” BCPS Chief Academic Officer Melissa DiDonato said at a March 19 meeting, according to The Sun. “While the budget described in the proposal is realistic, the fact that their building is yet to be secured does provide a financial risk.”

Board members rejected a separate charter school application Tuesday from Puzzle Pieces Learning Academy, WYPR said.

WYPR reported that officials said Puzzle Pieces "lacked adequate details about curriculum, staffing and student support." Puzzle Pieces thinks the application could've been clearer.

“How can we correct things if it's not measurable, or if it's not identified for us?” Puzzle Pieces CEO and Founder Chizarra Dashiell told board members, according to WYPR. “Some of the inaccuracies were just either not recorded or not even pointed out.

Maryland has the 15th fewest charter schools of any state, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools said in its most recent tally. Maryland had 48 charter schools in the 2021 to 2021 academic year.