City Schools

Anne Arundel County government hasn't supported the installation of speed cameras, but beginning Friday one slice of the county will have them anyway. Annapolis is set to launch its own enforcement program, even while state legislators consider overhauling Maryland's speed camera law in the wake of troubles with the Baltimore program. The Annapolis program, approved by the City Council in November 2011, allows for three speed cameras that, by law, must operate within school zones.

The Baltimore school system has started monitoring the administration of the High School Assessments this year, expanding on a measure that began in 2011 after a series of cheating scandals in its elementary and middle schools. City school officials said the move was not prompted by suspicions of cheating on the tests - which students have to pass to graduate - but to be proactive. "The natural extension is ensuring that we were being fair and consistent in our process," said Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, the system's chief accountability officer.

Supporters of a $2.4 billion plan to rebuild Baltimore's crumbling schools made a show of support in Annapolis on Monday night as thousands of people staged a loud, festive rally outside the State House to urge passage of legislation to launch the program. Teachers, students, parents and others described deplorable conditions in city schools - ranging from disgusting bathrooms and broken windows to stifling classrooms and inadequate computer labs - as they called upon lawmakers to provide the resources to rebuild the state's oldest school buildings.

Supporters of an ambitious plan to rebuild Baltimore's crumbling schools predict a large turnout Monday night when they gather in Annapolis for a rally in support of the plan, which faces an uphill battle to win passage in the General Assembly. The Baltimore Education Coalition, a group that supports the $2.4 billion plan, said more than 2,000 people are expected to turn out for the event on Lawyers Mall outside the State House. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and city schools CEO Andres Alonso, the two main proponents of the plan, are expected to speak at the 6:30 p.m. rally.

Northwestern High alumni have gone to court to try to stop the Baltimore school from closing, as civil rights activists say the plan is discriminatory because shuttering the institution would disproportionately affect low-income, minority students. The alumni association filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction in Baltimore City Circuit Court last week, arguing that the Baltimore school system's 10-year facilities plan was based on inaccurate and outdated information and would adversely affect hundreds of students from Northwest Baltimore.

The latest statistics from the Maryland State Department of Education show Baltimore City making steady progress toward increasing the number of students who finish high school. Last year city schools awarded 149 more diplomas than in 2011, and the city's 3.3 percentage point decline in dropouts was the largest in the region. That's great news for all the teachers, principals and school staff who have worked so hard to get the city's schools back on track. Since his arrival in Baltimore six years ago, schools CEO Andrés Alonso has made boosting high school graduation rates a priority of his reform effort, and during that period the schools' dropout rate has declined by more than half.

The Baltimore school board voted Tuesday night to not renew the contracts of several charter and other independently run schools — but deferred making decisions about whether most of them would close. In January, city schools CEO Andrés Alonso recommended closing four independently operated schools and bringing two other schools under district control, after a review of their progress concluded they had failed to live up to their promise. Some had low test scores while others had financial problems.

Quick: Name the school closest to North Charles Street and Lake Avenue in North Baltimore. Stumped? The city's Department of Transportation has the answer: It's the Bryn Mawr School, less than a half-mile southwest of the intersection as the crow flies over the trees and side streets. The distance matters. Charles and Lake is the site of one of the city's 75 permanent speed cameras. Under state law, the devices must lie within a half-mile of a school, or 2,640 feet. With its hundreds of schools, Baltimore is essentially one giant potential school zone, as the accompanying map shows.

In response to a system that many believed had long failed young black boys, a school began to take shape seven years ago in a small East Baltimore neighborhood. The Bluford Drew Jemison Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Academy would educate "scholars" who would wear uniforms and neckties. The school would have 12-hour days and extended school years to cut the time students spent on the streets as they came to embody the "BDJ Way. " But several years later, students lacked textbooks, computers and art supplies, and instructors had to teach geography with a hand-drawn map of the U.S. Amid years of financial mismanagement and lackluster achievement, Baltimore school officials are now proposing to close the politically connected school, whose co-founders include Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes and whose board of directors includes City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young.

As tens of thousands of Maryland families reveled in purple pride at M&T Bank Stadium on Tuesday, one mile away, the mood at Digital Harbor High School was blue. Students and staff questioned the Baltimore school system's decision not to amend school schedules or allow them to attend the parade celebrating the Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl win against the San Francisco 49ers. "We are in a city that our kids are not always proud of," said Patrice LaHair, an English teacher at Digital Harbor.