Three weeks until school starts and the elementary school in Sandtown, two blocks from where Freddie Gray was arrested, still has no principal. That has Helena Hicks steaming.

Another problem at the Gilmor Elementary School also has the civil rights activist on the warpath as she walks a reporter through the school’s playground, pointing out a pothole-pocked surface and rusty and broken equipment.

“Look in there. That’s gotta be a health hazard,” Hicks said Thursday, pointing to a broken play structure filled with trash and rainwater that appears to have had its jagged edges taped over at one point.

There’s a message that Hicks believes the dilapidated equipment and absence of a principal sends to the children living in Gray’s old Gilmor Homes neighborhood.

“It means nobody really cares,” Hicks said, adding, “You’d think after all that has happened here, they would at least have this place more together.”

Bad Conditions in Cherry Hill

Gilmor Elementary is not the only school cited recently for poor maintenance and sanitary conditions.

Last month, state Sen. William C. Ferguson IV sent an angry email to school officials about “inexcusable” conditions at two schools in another poor neighborhood.

Ferguson said this week that improvements have been made at the two Cherry Hill schools, but that he still has concerns.

No Principals

What’s more, Gilmor Elementary is not the only leaderless school on the cusp of a new academic year.

Nine others also do not have principals, Edie House-Foster, spokeswoman for Baltimore City Public Schools, confirmed yesterday.

House-Foster would not identify the specific schools, but judging from information on the BCPS website, they include:

• Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy at 100 North Calhoun Street.

• Northwood Appold Community Academy at 4417 Loch Raven Boulevard.

• Holabird Elementary at 1500 Imla Street.

• Edgecombe Circle Elementary at 2835 Virginia Avenue.

Filling Vacancies

Two weeks before teachers are supposed to report for work, the school system is also scrambling to fill teacher positions.

At a hiring fair held on Thursday, school officials handed out a list of 240 classroom vacancies. Only a fraction of them were filled at the fair.

House-Foster provided some information on the reasons for the principal vacancies, saying in an email, “As of today [August 7],  there are 10 principal vacancies, of which. . . seven result from recent resignations, retirements, or as principals secured promotions in the district.”

She said school officials have “worked with the respective school communities or school operators to run selection processes to fill these vacancies.”

The administration will be recommending appointments for six of the positions at next Tuesday’s school board meeting, she said.

She noted that in a few cases, the recommended appointees are currently principals at other schools in the district, “so these appointments will cause vacancies to open at the current school.”

She said that the school administration “will continue to move quickly and aggressively to fill remaining vacancies prior to the first day of school on August 31st.”

Asked about the Gilmor playground’s condition, House-Foster said the school “is slated to get a new playground in October 2015.”

Secretary in Charge

A longtime volunteer at Gilmor (and at the adjacent Lillian S. Jones Recreation Center named after her sister), Hicks said she has been trying to find out everything she can about the school as the fall semester approaches.

She said she learned that the prior principal, Mark A. Bongiovanni, took a job in Baltimore County and that no permanent replacement has been found for him.

“I am honored and privileged to introduce myself as your new principal and I am so excited to be here,” reads Bongiovanni’s announcement from last year that is still on the school’s website.

Hicks acknowledges the April 27 riots that followed Gray’s fatal arrest by city police brought some improvements at Gilmor.

In the wake of the disturbances, she helped orchestrate several donations to the school and Lillian S. Jones rec center, including shelving donated by Exelon Corp. and books contributed by Barnes & Noble and the Morgan University faculty.

She said the shelves and books were being installed at the school this week, but observed that the school secretary was supervising the process.

“She seems to be running everything,” Hicks said. “I asked the secretary why she’s doing it and she says she cares about the kids and will do what she can. I hope they are paying her more.”

No Follow Through

Even with those efforts, Hicks worries that the absence of academic staff and a principal means that children will not benefit from the community’s largesse.

“I got 30 computers donated, but they’re sitting in boxes. There’s no one to get them set up. I think the computer teacher left,” Hicks said

“Donations are not the problem. I can get donations. It’s follow through at the school that’s missing.”

The Brew asked several city officials if they were aware of, or concerned about, Gilmor and the other schools without principals.

One person who responded was the spokesman for City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young.

“It’s something that deserves to be monitored,” Lester Davis said. “The principal is a critical leader in the school and the community. It’s important to get the right fit, the right leader. It’s not a race. It’s a marathon.”

Hicks said she called Councilman Nick Mosby, whose 7th District includes Gilmor Elementary, and his response was that school officials were working on getting a principal.

Mosby promised to speak to The Brew on Friday, but has not yet called back.
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– Fern Shen contributed to this story.