Baltimore City Public Schools reached a settlement over claims the system violated provisions of law, regulations and policy regarding student promotion, attendance, enrollment and grading.

After extensive discovery and a series of court orders limiting the evidence that plaintiff Jovani Patterson could introduce at trial and denying the school system’s motion for a summary judgment, the parties entered into the settlement.

Under the settlement, which doesn’t involve a financial payment, the school system agreed to publish more detailed data than the law requires on promotion and absence rates, including the number of students who move up a grade level or graduate after missing 30, 60 or 120 or more days of school. City Schools also agreed to audit grade changes in three randomly selected schools each year.

“The settlement recognizes City Schools’ commitment to continuous improvement and its substantial progress in the areas of promotion, attendance, enrollment, and grading,” the district and Patterson said in a joint news release. “Mr. Patterson does not contend that City Schools’ policies in these areas are deficient or that City Schools has failed to comply with its truancy policies and procedures.”

A district spokesperson declined to comment further.

Patterson, a former City Council candidate and parent of a former Baltimore public school student, sued the district in January 2022, claiming it defrauded taxpayers by failing to educate its students, inaccurately reporting enrollment and not enforcing truancy rules.

Patterson’s wife, Shawnda, a former Baltimore City schoolteacher, was initially one of the plaintiffs but left the suit after it was determined that she lacked standing to sue the school system. Citizens living in a jurisdiction can bring taxpayer lawsuits alleging that the government misused their money.

Patterson has said that a limited-liability company associated with Baltimore Sun co-owner and Sinclair Broadcast Group Executive Chairman David Smith is paying his legal bills in the suit. Patterson’s complaint included stories aired by FOX45, a Sinclair affiliate, to back up his claims, and the school system subpoenaed Smith to testify about his involvement.

Patterson is the chair of the political action committee People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement, which received $340,000 from Smith in 2023, according to campaign finance records. PEACE petitioned for a successful city ballot initiative to impose term limits, as well as a recent unsuccessful initiative to halve the size of the City Council that city voters rejected earlier this month.

Lawyers for the owners of The Sun and FOX45filed a motion Oct. 15 asking for permission to intervene in the suit. The groups sought to unseal school attendance records and other “confidential documents” submitted to the court by the district.

Patterson in a phone interview Wednesday said he believed the settlement achieved “another level of transparency” for the school system.

“Transparency and accountability are really my objectives and my goals,” Patterson said. “It’s only our tax dollars being used to fund the system; it’s only our future being affected by this.”

Data released in the lawsuit showed more than 4,000 elementary and middle school students advanced to the next grade level in the 2021-22 school year despite missing 60 or more days of school.

“When you see the number of students who are promoted and are missing school, it does raise a lot of questions,” Patterson said. “One is: Do we need that many days of school? Or is it possible that the material can be learned in less days of school?”

He said it wasn’t his “objective” to reduce the number of school days for students, but he wondered how children who miss one-sixth or one-third of the school year could learn the skills to succeed in the next grade.

“Going forward for a three-year period, the settlement includes tailored enhancements to currently established public reporting and auditing requirements,” according to the statement. “These provisions reflect the parties’ shared commitment to assuring that information continues to be publicly available in order to keep the community informed regarding City Schools’ ongoing compliance with policies, procedures, regulations, and the law.”

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