A Publicly Funded Boarding School In Maryland

I didn't know there was a boarding school for at risk kids in DC, but according to the Baltimore Sun, at least one student is happy there is such a school:

Durrell Lewis, in his navy blazer and tie and his big plans for college, told state lawmakers yesterday that he is living proof of why Maryland needs a public boarding school.

Lewis, a senior at Washington's SEED School, the nation's first boarding program for at-risk youths, urged a House committee to pass a bill that would pave the way for a second school in Baltimore.

Balitmore is asking the Maryland House of Delegates to appropriate money to build a similar school to help students in the city's troubled school system. Apparently, the concept is getting a warm reception in Annapolis:

Delegates on the House Ways and Means Committee warmly embraced the costly pitch that would bring the celebrated SEED program to Baltimore in 2009.

What I find surprising is the willingness of political leaders to acceed to a publicly funded boarding school.

Washington's SEED school, which opened in 1998, enrolls 320 students in the seventh through 12th grades. Students are chosen for the program through a lottery.

SEED is short for Schools for Educational Evolution and Development.

Mayor Martin O'Malley has wanted to bring such a school to Baltimore ever since he visited the Washington institution, Deputy Mayor Jean Hitchcock said yesterday.

The SEED Foundation spent the past year developing a plan for the Baltimore expansion with a grant from the Abell Foundation.

"Tears came to my eyes when I saw the school," Hitchcock told the committee, adding that the program has found a way to turn "burdens to society" into "wonderful human beings."

Of course, any small school with limited enrollement means that students who don't win in the lottery are stuck in a poor school system. Such is the tragedy behind the limited experiments with school choice, only a lucky few get the opportunity, particularly in Maryland where the charter school law is only a couple of years old and the number of charters can be counted on two hands. But any move in a positive direction is a good move.