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Board renews several charters; leaders and families urge support for Legends Public Charter
Summary
The Board approved renewal recommendations for multiple charter schools, including College Park Academy, CMIT North campuses and Legends Public Charter School, after extensive public testimony from Legends’ founders, staff, and families highlighting growth, academic outcomes and financial education programs.
The Prince George's County Board of Education approved renewal recommendations on June 26 for multiple public charter schools, including College Park Academy, CMIT North (elementary, middle and high school) and Legends Public Charter School.
Public testimony was dominated by a series of speakers representing Legends Public Charter School — founders, the principal, and parents — who described the school’s rapid growth, academic outcomes and a distinctive financial education curriculum. Natasha James, cofounder and CEO of Legends, framed the school’s work as transformational: “At Legends, we are dismantling the status quo,” she told trustees. Principal Tanisha Dixon provided proficiency statistics for early grades (for example, kindergarten through second grade reading on or above benchmark increasing to 77% and kindergarten math growth cited from 12% to 51%), and speakers emphasized a current enrollment of about 900 scholars with a waitlist in the hundreds.
Why it matters: Charter renewals determine whether independently operated public schools retain their authorization to serve county students. Trustees said renewal decisions are part of a broader district effort to improve the renewal process, increase collaboration with operators, and begin renewal planning earlier in the cycle.
What the charter representatives said: Legends leaders presented several claims on the record: the school opened in 2020, operates a financial education curriculum beginning in kindergarten, employs roughly 65 PGCPS teachers, uses AmeriCorps members and reports higher-than-district-average attendance and minimal exclusionary discipline. Portia Cameron, chief of staff at Legends and a parent, and other speakers asked for continued partnership and for the board to approve renewal to allow the school to continue growth.
Board staff and process: District staff noted plans to expand the renewal timeline, create a renewal framework, and strengthen cross-district partnerships to give charter operators a longer runway for improvement work.
Vote and next steps: Trustees approved the listed renewal recommendations (agenda items 15.14–15.16) by roll call; the chair announced nine votes in the affirmative at the time of the vote. Staff said they would pursue the longer runway and more collaborative renewal process described during the meeting.
Ending: With renewals approved, district staff will continue monitoring operator performance under the established charter oversight framework and implement the internal improvements to the renewal timeline discussed in the meeting.
