📘 “We Just Got the Uniforms”: The Collapse of Excel Academy and the Cost of Charter Fragility

By Barry O’Connell

August 23, 2025

On a quiet Friday morning, just four days before the school year was set to begin, families of Excel Academy Public Charter School in Prince George’s County received a message that felt like a betrayal: the school was closing. Permanently. No warning. No transition plan. Just a sudden end to what many believed was a stable, nurturing environment.

For nearly 500 students—many of whom had never known another school—Excel wasn’t just a building. It was a community, a rhythm, a promise. And now, with backpacks packed and uniforms freshly delivered, that promise has vanished.

🎒 “I Just Got the Box Yesterday”

“I’m sitting here looking at this box of uniforms I just paid for,” said Tasha M., a mother of two Excel students. “They came in the mail yesterday. Tags still on. And now I gotta tell my babies they’re not going back.”

Another parent, Darnell, who described himself as “just a regular dude tryna keep his kids on track,” put it bluntly:

• > “Man, I ain’t even gonna lie. We just got the drip—fresh polos, khakis, the whole setup. My daughter was hype. Now it’s like, ‘Sorry baby, school’s gone.’ That ain’t right.”

This isn’t just about wasted money—it’s about emotional whiplash. Families who trusted the system were blindsided. And the timing couldn’t be worse.

🧠 The New Kid Isn’t a Fresh Start—It’s a Forced Reset

There’s no point in a child’s academic journey when being the new kid is easy. For Excel students, this isn’t a new beginning—it’s a rupture.

“I’ve been here since kindergarten,” said Janiya, now entering 8th grade. “I don’t even know what another school feels like. My teachers know me. I was supposed to be in IB this year.”

Her friend Malik echoed the sentiment:

• > “It’s like they erased our whole story. We had plans. We had people.”

These aren’t just anecdotes—they’re evidence of a deeper truth: displacement hurts. It disrupts learning, fractures social bonds, and forces vulnerable children to navigate unfamiliar environments without the scaffolding they’ve come to rely on.

🏚️ The Villain: A System Built on Fragility

So who’s to blame? Not a single person, but a system that treats charter schools like startups—expected to survive market forces without the safety net public schools enjoy.

• - SEED Foundation, Excel’s operator, knew the financial strain was unsustainable. They explored merger talks. But they didn’t tell families until the last possible moment.

• - PGCPS recommended closure back in April, but didn’t ensure families were properly informed or supported.

• - Charter Governance in Maryland allows decisions to be made behind closed doors, with little accountability to the communities affected.

This isn’t just about Excel. The Maryland Alliance of Public Charter Schools warns that all charters may face closure within a few years if proposed regulations—like increasing administrative fees from 2% to 5%—are enacted. The sector is teetering.

> “We’ve spent years refining the blueprint for public education,” Barry writes, “but we’ve ignored the scaffolding beneath charter schools. And now it’s collapsing.”

✍🏽 What Happens Next

PGCPS has promised to reassign students to other schools and help families navigate the transition. But for many, the damage is already done.

As Tasha put it:

• > “They can move my kids to another building. But they can’t undo the way this felt.”

Excel Academy didn’t just close its doors—it closed a chapter in hundreds of children’s lives. And it did so with barely a whisper. The villain here isn’t a person—it’s a system that treats children like line items and families like afterthoughts.

Unless we confront the fragility baked into Maryland’s charter design, Excel won’t be the last school to vanish before the first bell rings.

(Names were changed to protect student privacy)