Baltimore County residents will gain a new language-immersion charter school in September 2025, becoming only the second charter option in the district — and the first to open since 2019.
On Tuesday night, county school board members unanimously voted to approve the application for Bilingual Global Citizen Public Charter School. The school will offer instruction half in English and half in French or Chinese starting with kindergarten through third grade, and adding a grade each year until they enroll eighth graders.
Board members also rejected an application from Puzzle Pieces Learning Academy. District officials said in a March board meeting that the school’s leaders failed to provide adequate details about curriculum, staffing and student support on their initial application.
“We have one chance to get it right for our students,” said board chair Tiara Booker-Dwyer. “And so when we look at these charter applications, we are looking at are you taking advantage of that one chance to get it right?”
Puzzle Pieces CEO and Founder Chizarra Dashiell told board members that the application process lacked clarity upfront.
“How can we correct things if it's not measurable, or if it's not identified for us?” she said. “Some of the inaccuracies were just either not recorded or not even pointed out.”
There are around 50 charter schools operating in Maryland, making it one of the states with the fewest in the nation. Maryland charter schools are required to adhere to local public school standards, and to employ teachers from local unions.
Over 30 of the state’s charters are located in Baltimore City. But only one, Watershed Public Charter School, exists in Baltimore County.