Researchers have long linked a student’s success to socio-economic status. A recent study found that geography, down to the city-block level, influences future success. If a family is fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood where most residents are of middle income or higher, children succeed; and where they don’t, children fail. It’s simple. It’s all about geography.

This means most of Baltimore City’s boys and girls don’t have much of a choice as their parents do not possess the resources to move to the best zip codes. Many of these children attend unsafe, aging schools where heating systems frequently malfunction and assaults against teachers have occurred 300 times since September.

Hundreds of parents have exercised their choice by sending their children to one of Baltimore’s 35 charter schools. Some like Monarch Academy Baltimore have modern, superbly equipped facilities that sparkle. Children are safe and they are learning.

As a native of Baltimore and a former school board member of an urban school district, I was dubious when the charter movement started. It seemed like a money-grab that would weaken urban schools across the country. But after watching charters for 20 years, I have come to realize that many parents are making a deliberate choice to give their children a chance.

Last week at the Baltimore City school board meeting, I listened to parents and children give testimonies about the importance of their child’s charter school. Monarch Academy Baltimore parents spoke of psycho-emotional and educational needs that were not being met within the framework of a traditional public school. One mother talked about a son who had struggled with thoughts of suicide before enrolling in his school. Others spoke of boys and girls who experienced trauma and academic problems before finding the school that empowered their child to discover the joy of learning. Members of Baltimore’s Board of School Commissioners responded with appreciation and seemed deeply moved by the student stories.

The common thread in each testimony was the importance of parental choice to the child’s success. For most of the parents in the room, a charter school gave them a choice many of America’s urban poor do not have. In traditional schools, school choice is nonexistent at the elementary school level and left to those who qualify at the middle school level.

If school choice is a determinant, then charters are a logical vehicle that creates the possibility for each child to succeed, except, however, for the fact that Baltimore City Public Schools administrators have recommended the closure of most of these schools, including Monarch Academy Baltimore, because they do not perform up to district standards.

Most citizens recognize the responsibility of school boards to hold the ropes on performance standards for charter schools and support efforts to either bring those schools up to standards or to close them. Except for this: Many of the neighborhood schools these children will return to have similar or lower PARCC scores than the schools Baltimore City Public Schools wants to close.

This seems counter-productive, an injustice to children and a disservice to the community. How is such an injustice to children possible? It is possible because central office administrators know better than parents what is best for children.

There is no evidence to support this viewpoint. Baltimore City Public Schools has proven that they are unable to provide children with safe buildings or an education that equips them to be successful in life.

One Monarch Academy Baltimore parent stated the case clearly and eloquently when she told the board, “I don’t care what the school board decides. I will never send my children to a zone school. I will home school them before I allow her to attend an unsafe school.”

And yet, if school administrators succeed in their program to close most charter schools, this parent and thousands of others will have no choice. And another generation of Baltimore’s poor will suffer the results of their calloused decisions. Only the Board of School Commissioners can act on behalf of these boys and girls. It should be the hope and prayer of all of us who love this city that their compassion and good sense will counter the short-sighted recommendations of administration.

Gary Kellner, a Baltimore native, is president and CEO of the Genesis Group, an educational consulting firm to schools and universities throughout the country including The Children’s Guild and Monarch Academy in Baltimore.