Shifting Spaces, Shifting Minds

By Gianni Montalvo and Maura Wilson | July 2, 2026

My predecessors are the ones who come before me. They inspire and understand me because they have done what I’m doing and have “stood where I stand.” But now they don’t. Now, we walk through different halls and a different space. The doors we walk through every day are different. They don’t understand me now because we have become different.

A school, for many of us, is supposed to be a second home—a predictable, albeit quite comforting, anchor in what may be considered the whirlpool of our ever-changing lives. But precisely what happens when any grasp you may have acquired of normality is suddenly torn away in an instant, and you are expected to bounce back almost as if nothing abnormal has occurred? What happens when students, of all ages and of all grade levels, are suddenly relocated in an attempt to supposedly ensure their safety, while their academic structure, the very thing that may provide them with appropriate security, is sacrificed? Now they are left navigating unfamiliar corridors, nevertheless still struggling to understand the true gravity of their situation.

Many schools have swung spaces for a variety of reasons. These changes in school location have affected Baltimore City students in a multitude of ways, and they’re not only in settings. Two prominent schools that have swung have been Baltimore City College and Francis Scott Key. The swings have created new problems, new disconnects, and new challenges. The students, teachers, alumni, and more have all expressed their opinions on swinging.

One of the schools that has swung was Baltimore City College. As of the 25-26 school year, BBC has swung from their original building, which is known as The Castle, to the renovated and readapted University of Baltimore campus. The reason for this swing is that The Castle is going through serious renovations. City will be in the University of Baltimore buildings for about 3 years, or until fall of 2028.

A large point of City College pride comes from their building, known as The Castle, which has a large impact on school spirit and holds more meaning to City’s alumni and students, compared to other high schools, who hold less pride in the image and building they reside in. This means the swing not only affects the location of classes but also student-to-school connectivity and spirit.

An important part of the student body to consider when describing the swing’s effect are sophomores, Class of ’28. The sophomore class’s value will be the fact that they, along with the freshman class, will be spending the most time at UB. The Class of 2027 will also arguably be the class with the least Castle spirit because they will be the last class to graduate from UB and have had the most amount of time spent there. What makes their situation worse than the Class of ’29’s is that they had their first year at The Castle to compare to UB, while ’29 have nothing to contrast their high school experience with.

A current sophomore (Class of 2028), named Sophie W., expressed their opinions on the different impacts of City’s swing. They start off by mentioning something good that came from City’s swing specifically: “I really like the area that UB is in. It has a lot more restaurants and cafes and is generally a lot nicer than where The Castle is.” Though this may not be the case for other schools, this swing has put these high school students in the middle of the city. This new physical location has many advantages, like increased accessibility to public transportation, which many students also discussed their gratitude for. So if the literal new location isn’t the problem, then what is

They went on to explain more of the negative side, saying, “I think the swing has also resulted in tension between the school administrators and the students because of very strict rules about uniforms.” What Sophie describes is City’s new, stricter uniform policy that was implemented by the University of Baltimore with the goal to improve safety. The student-admin relationship is always complex, especially with high schoolers, and when more rules are forced, there is obvious tension. Along with this change of location, there is a similar change in policy. In the new central location, City has implemented a tighter grip on skipping, along with more hall monitors. The new location being near food places and bus stops has made skipping and getting something to eat easier, or skipping to go home easier as well. Sophie brings up a good point about the increased tension.

Finally, Sophie was asked about whether the swing is worrying them academically. When asked this, they said, “I am worried about the threat of losing advisory next year. I wouldn’t have such good grades without advisory, and I understand that students are wandering the halls too much.” The issue Sophie mentions here connects back to the increased concern of skipping. Advisory is a class all students take last period on B-days. The class is used as a study period and time for coach classes. The issue of losing advisory is caused by the increased number of people who skip or walk the halls, since the new location has made skipping more rewarding for students.

Overall, many students are opposed to the swing but know it is what must be done. But students and people recognize the importance of renovating The Castle in order to help City.

As compared to Baltimore City College’s extended dislocation at an alternate school building, Francis Scott Key faces a considerably briefer, albeit just as inconvenient, removal to Thurgood Marshall, a location situated in  Northeast Baltimore.

This resettlement was originally induced by the alleged discovery of harmful mold in the school’s ceilings that prompted a preliminary investigation from officials to determine the precise condition of the building. Although no injurious substances were found, administrators deemed it the most prudent choice to relocate for a period of a few months to ensure that no future issues would occur concerning the quality of the school.

At first, it seemed like a relatively commonplace circumstance that these officials would harbor reservations about the deficiencies in the school’s infrastructure. Students were simply informed that all would return to normal within a short timeframe of two weeks and were asked to attend virtual classes in the hope that they could continue with their ordinary studies without any particular obstructions.

A couple of days before the approximate arrival date at FSK, administrators announced that, due to unrelated safety concerns and a thorough inspection of the school’s plumbing quality, they would postpone the date until further notice, instead prompting students to almost abruptly relocate to a swing space that has now been identified as Thurgood Marshall.

This change sparked outrage throughout the Francis Scott Key community: parents hastily enrolled their students in nearby schools like Thomas Johnson or Roland Park, while others protested the continuation of standard curricula being moved online, disregarding the convenience of the teachers and others involved.

But a multitude of the alarmed parents argued from a completely different viewpoint—that of science and pure fact. Studies by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University have found that students who are suddenly displaced from their typical environment often encounter a variety of educational barriers, such as learning gaps, a higher risk of behavioral issues, and anxiety. While these exact studies may be applied toward the act of completely removing a student from a certain school district, one can easily transfer some of these more subtle shifts associated with the change in environment to the purpose of our investigation, all of which provoke chiefly negative connotations when considering the direct impact that “swinging spaces” have on students.

To investigate further into the immediate consequences the sudden change of academic locations had on these students, I questioned two students with differing perspectives on the move to Thurgood Marshall to determine precisely how these transitions have affected the student body.

Our first subjects of investigation are Cora Neal and Cooper Bruchey, two seventh-graders attending Francis Scott Key at the time the announcement was first made.

*Interview has been edited for conciseness 

When it was first announced that we would be moving to Thurgood Marshall, how did you react? 

CB: Even now, I don’t look back on it with a positive perspective- when we were first informed that we would be moving to Thurgood Marshall, I was honestly shocked- we hadn't even made it past the first semester of the school year, and we were already clearing out of the premises, in addition to compromising our academic structure and security for potential mold that may turn out to not even be there. 

CN: Well, I have to admit, I was really excited at the chance to have virtual learning for two weeks in a row before moving to an unknown space, which was likely prompted by complete ignorance surrounding the location that we would end up moving to. But what I did not realize is that my expectations were to be completely altered following the first impressions of the building, and the sheer astonishment of it all. 

What is something positive that arose from moving to this swing space?

CB: I wouldn’t say that anything necessarily positive came from moving to Thurgood Marshall; however, I always appreciate the way in which, in the presence of their students, the teachers remained calm and continued our lessons as normal. All teachers exhibited the greatest compassion, care, and academic focus that was possible in such a situation, and that’s really all I can say. 

CN: It was more accessible to certain locations that I had to travel to, and the change in scenery was quite comforting as well- there is something really dull about staying in the same space for the entire school year, and moving to Thurgood Marshall quickly alleviated that problem. Additionally, the prospect of certain accommodations that came with this school, like bigger classrooms and even a communal stage, seemed pleasing to me, even if they were not of the highest quality. 

What is something negative that arose from moving to this swing space? 

CB: I noticed that many students were more prone to fighting in this specific environment almost every week; there was a different fight, with a different student, and although the authorities came to eventually break up the situation, it seems as if they have carried this habit over to our original learning space. 

CN: On a personal level, I was obliged to wake up earlier and sacrifice sleep each night as it did not align with my outside schedule. The school itself was unsatisfactory and almost neglected on an interior level- the heating did not work properly, so the classrooms averaged around 90 degrees on occasion, and many of the learning spaces were vandalized with graffiti and other sorts of imagery that made it hard to imagine that this school was not of good quality at all. I was more disoriented when it came to navigating around the building and had a greater amount of stress from the fear of getting to school on time to catch the bus and expressing the possibility that it may not even arrive on time after all, which, in multiple cases, it did not, resulting in time lost from classes and other significant portions of the day. 

*end of interview 

Whether the shift to the swing space at Thurgood Marshall aroused any positive feedback from the students, one thing remains evidently clear: how it was largely inconvenient for a majority of these students, as for some, the transit entailed taking long and convoluted bus routes from their home or attempting to predict the next day’s inconsistent school bus arrival time when these specific dates fluctuated. Although many may not necessarily agree with the standpoint that such a short period of time could affect students’ mental health, all of the participants in this unprecedented circumstance experienced the same level of distress following a chaotic transition that nevertheless highlights severe shortcomings in the course of the school district’s planning.

The recollections of these two interviewees, Cooper and Cora, essentially reveal how a sudden shift to a swing space can drastically alter the daily reality of any student, regardless of their inherent grade or academic standing, just as a student who typically receives lower grades than average may suffer from the lack of normality, a student who consistently maintains a high GPA may find themselves to be equally disadvantaged by an unfamiliar school environment.

So, the question is, essentially, how can school districts address both the academic and emotional issues spurred by these turbulent periods of relocation before they completely unravel a student’s scholarly progression, and how can we, as a community, support these students in such times of crisis? The simple answer is this: officials must prioritize the mental well-being of students over simple logistics or convenience—they must first listen to the direct necessities of the students themselves to establish reliable transit routes and create a plan that ensures that every scholar receives the proper accommodations necessary to thrive in a new environment.