Sarah Ceponis is Midtown Academy’s new executive director – charged with leading the public charter school at Mt. Royal Avenue near W. Lafayette St. through a broad planning process that will include building updates and, potentially, an expansion beyond Bolton Hill.
“The principal and I work very closely together. She manages the staff and students and curriculum and I oversee budget, planning, governance and administrative affairs,” she said. This is Principal Kimberly Davis’ third year at the school, which has some 200 students in its kindergarten through eighth grade classes. “She has really built a strong team and culture,” the director said.
In March, Midtown completed the acquisition of the former Catholic school building it has occupied as a tenant since shortly after the school was created in 1997, along with an adjacent building that was the rectory for the Corpus Christi parish that is now part of the Basilica. That enabled some upgrades and expansion from what was previously a tight fit for the students and staff.
Midtown has been in conversation with the city to make available to it a larger vacant school building in the Guilford neighborhood, near the Loyola University campus. When and whether to move the school or open a second campus is at the center of the planning being managed by Ceponis and the school’s board and stakeholders.
“The Department of Housing and Community Development owns that building, which has been vacant for nearly 10 years. It will require significant renovation if we take possession. For sure we are in Bolton Hill for the next 2026-27 school year,” she said. “We are here. We are investing in our current facility, too.” She said the fall of 2028 would be the first possible exit year, given where things stand. The size of the current site likely rules out major expansion beyond its 200 students, though there are some options to explore. There has been a waiting list for admission.
Midtown had been without an executive director since the 2017-18 school year. Ceponis started in August, transitioning from work with youth and family programs in the city. She lives in Reservoir Hill and has three children, one who attends Mt. Royal Elementary and Middle School and two at Bolton Hill Nursery nearby. She said Midtown was thrilled to be visited by city schools CEO Sonia Santelises on the first day of this school year.
Midtown was one of the first and is the longest operating charter school in Baltimore, created initially to primarily serve children in Bolton Hill and Reservoir Hill. Today, according to Ceponis, about 40 percent of the student body comes from the 21217 Zip Code that includes those neighborhoods, but also from Madison Park, Upton and Druid Heights. Another 20 percent come from close-by 21215 and 21216, with the others from around the city.
–Bill Hamilton
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