Homeland Security is one of four small high schools created by the breakup of Walbrook High in 2005. One of those has already closed. Another moved to a strip mall on West North Avenue. The fourth, the Institute of Business and Entrepreneurship, or IBE, shares the old Walbrook building with Homeland Security. Officials say IBE's climate is better and have included it among the schools where Homeland Security students may transfer.
No high school will receive more than 20 Homeland Security students, officials said. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors, along with their parents, have until the end of next week to decide whether they want to transfer and to which school.
While students in most city high schools are taking midterms this week, administrators had students at Homeland Security take their exams early in preparation for the transition; the students are not in school this week.
In its four years of existence, Homeland Security has had five principals. Officials removed the most recent principal, Arnetta Rudisill, in the fall after a spate of bathroom fires, and after her departure, students' behavior spiraled further out of control. After receiving an e-mail from a teacher who said he feared a student would die there, Alonso sent a horde of central office administrators and mentors to the school to restore order, which staff and students say they did.
But maintaining control requires a disproportionate share of resources, and a host of other issues remain. In three out of four subjects, pass rates on the state's new graduation exams last spring were less than 20 percent, compared with citywide averages between 32 and 53 percent. Much work remains for many of the 126 seniors who are staying at the school and who must pass those tests or complete project equivalents in time for graduation.
As a result of a policy allowing city students to choose their high schools, Homeland Security has become for some a last resort, drawing a disproportionate number of students with a history of behavior problems, Alonso said.
Still, English and journalism teacher Philip Turner said most of his students are intellectually curious and want to learn about the world outside Baltimore. He said they've become so accustomed to schools having low expectations for them that "they're amazed when someone stands there and teaches them something."
