Bombshell Allegations at Another City School

A former Baltimore City Schools principal says she believes there’s an organized effort in City Schools to push kids through the system at any cost, even if it means enrolling them in classes that don’t exist. The allegations come as the school district is under fire over so-called ghost students, and now, ghost classes.

Angel Lewis tells Fox45 News she was recruited by Baltimore City Schools in 2016 and brought in to help a troubled school east Baltimore. She says North Avenue knew about ghost student and ghost classes, years ago, because she told them.

Lewis has watched over the past few months as Project Baltimore exposed the massive scandal at Augusta Fells Savage in west Baltimore. For her, it seemed all too familiar.

“I believe that it is happening at many schools,” Lewis told Project Baltimore.

North Avenue, earlier this month, released the explosive findings of its internal investigation into Augusta Fells. Those findings confirmed six months of Project Baltimore’s reporting, finding grades were improperly changed while upwards of 100 students had questionable enrollment status. The report also found Augusta Fells students were enrolled in classes that did not exist, which Lewis says was happening at her school, Claremont Middle/High School in east Baltimore.

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Lewis is currently suing Baltimore City Schools for wrongful termination. She claims North Avenue violated state whistleblower protection laws because when she got to Claremont in 2016, she began reporting what she found at the school under the previous principal, Kamala Carnes. She says, at the time she inherited the school, she had five deceased students enrolled on paper.

“Several staff members, they actually went through the roster with me and let me know who had attended, who never attended, who was deceased,” Lewis told Project Baltimore.

By keeping students enrolled, a school can increase the funding it receives from taxpayers. {snip}

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When Lewis took over, she says 130 students were enrolled at Claremont, but only about 30 were attending the school. Ghost students, as they’re called by educators, are only enrolled on paper.

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The original lawsuit Lewis filed against Baltimore City Schools details how she issued complaints with North Avenue that Claremont, was “cheating on the statewide assessment”, graduating students that were “not eligible to graduate” and had teachers “not qualified to teach”. Lewis filed complaints stating that students were enrolled in classes that did not exist, saying, “Claremont’s schedule did not include math or science courses”, which are required to graduate.

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