"On the other side of the neighborhood": Students on their way to Mount Royal Elementary in Bolton Hill, a Baltimore neighborhood. (Nicole Leistikow)
Few Bolton Hill parents bring up the topic of Mount Royal voluntarily, or can boast of having actually set foot inside the building. And though the school is only a block away from Midtown, one woman located Mount Royal "on the other side of the neighborhood." It may have been a slip of the tongue, but others also exaggerate the geographic distance of the school. Indeed, there is a cultural and class distance between Bolton Hill and Mount Royal, and that may be what many in the neighborhood unconsciously perceive.
Mount Royal principal Mark Frankel actually isn't much interested in why Bolton Hill parents, as a rule of thumb, do not even consider Mount Royal as an option. Frankel, in his early fifties, is short and dapper, and looks more like a winning lawyer in his suit and glasses than an elementary school principal. His humor and charm serve him well, because he doesn't mince words. He is blunt in his surmises about Bolton Hill's lack of interest in Mount Royal, which he says is 99.8 percent African American. "I think parents want their kids to be with children like them," he says. "Certain schools are better calling cards." In Frankel's ideal world, the main determinant in school choice should be high standards.
And Mount Royal's high standards have delivered. The school performs in the top 5 percent of schools receiving Title 1 funds (federal monies for disadvantaged institutions). Though 80 percent of its students receiving free or reduced lunch, the school's MSPAP scores averaged 38.8 this year and its fifth graders typically score first in the state in math. Classes sizes are eighteen and under in the lower school, and twenty-five in grades six through eight. Linda Eberhart, Baltimore City's teacher of the year, teaches at Mount Royal and touts the school at every public appearance. And while Frankel's school has had positive coverage on CNN and NBC, Bolton Hillers still aren't convinced that there's a jewel hiding in their midst.
But the stigma of being part of BCPS seems impossible to overcome. Parents like Sara, for example, cite concerns about violence at the school. In fact, Frankel had to fight to retain the school police officer--the expense was deemed unnecessary because no incidents had ever been reported. "We don't market the school," says Frankel of Bolton Hill. His decision not to focus on recruiting middle-class parents suggests he sees the effort as a losing battle.
Why don't Bolton Hill parents, who are enthusiastic about public schooling, see Mount Royal as a brand they can trust? Or even a brand they want to know more about? Cindy Patak, who sent two daughters to Mount Royal and now has one at Midtown, suggests possible answers.
The dream of a neighborhood school
Opting out of the "experiment"
The school on the wrong side of the street