Closure

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.

Repairs continued Monday to a water main break at Canton Industrial Park that had created a sinkhole over the weekend on South Newkirk Street, city Department of Public Works officials said. No one was injured and there was no property damage in Saturday's main break, which occurred when an underground pipe ruptured in the 1800 block of S. Newkirk St. near Holabird Avenue at 7:32 p.m. The main break spouted water into the air and caused a portion of the street to collapse, but the area has no homes and is used primarily by trucks, Department of Public Works spokeswoman Tiffani J. Church said Saturday.

North Charles Street will be closed between Saratoga and Mulberry streets for much of the weekend. Motorists are encouraged to avoid the area and take alternate routes. The two-block closure will last from 3 a.m. Saturday through about 6 p.m. Sunday to accommodate a crane that will be working on a building, according to the city transportation department. Detours and parking restrictions will be in effect. sdance@baltsun.com twitter.com/ssdance

Charles Street will be closed from Mulberry to Saratoga streets from early Saturday morning (around 3 a.m.) to approximately 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to city officials. The closure will accommodate a massive crane needed for work on one of the buildings on the 300 block of Charles Street. There are quite a few restaurants on that block, one of the longest blocks downtown. They include Lumbini , Maisy's , Cazbar , Homeslyce, Ban Thai , Mick O'Shea's , David & Dad's and the Woman's Industrial Kitchen . All of them will be open regular hours during the street closure.

Armed with a plan for protests and petitions, phone banks and pep rallies, the Northwestern High School Alumni Association has set "Operation Hands-Off Northwestern" in motion. The association's leadership met Tuesday with parents and community activists to map out what they say will be a fight to the bitter end to save the large Baltimore City high school from closing - from a pep rally Friday to a legal injunction and civil rights lawsuit when the school board takes its final vote on the recommendation in the 2015-2016 school year.

The Baltimore city school system announced Tuesday the closure of 26 school buildings in the next decade, as part of a large-scale plan to overhaul its dilapidated infrastructure. The highly anticipated "10-year plan" would also see 136 school buildings replaced or renovated. It also calls for reducing the number of school buildings in the district from 163 to 137 to right-size the district's facilities to its population and increase its utilization rate. Four schools are recommended for closure at the end of the current school year: Baltimore Rising Star Academy; Garrison Middle; Patapsco Elementary/Middle School; and William C. March Middle School.

Your recent article about the Hostess Inc. bankruptcy stated that the company blamed its closure on striking workers, but it failed to mention what else was happening as the company was trying to cut bakery workers' pay ("Hostess' shutdown prompts snack rush," Nov. 17). Indeed, while it was filing for bankruptcy, Hostess tripled its CEO's pay and gave significant salary increases to its top executives. That's some bad HoHo. Randi Hogan, Crownsville

There's welcome news for Harford County motorists traversing the Abingdon area. The Harford County Department of Public Works announced Friday that Wheel Road, between Patterson Mill Road and Laurel Bush Road, has been re-opened following a lengthy closure for repairs. The road was closed in mid-June of this year. For more information about this road closure and highway project, contact Michael T. Davies, chief of the Bureau of Construction Inspections for the Department of Public Works, at 410-638-3217, ext. 2434, during regular business hours Monday through Friday.

An overflow crowd showed up at Sykesville's Town Council meeting on Nov. 14 - nearly all of them coming to register their disapproval of the town's Nov. 1 firing of Jean Maher, longtime manager of the Sykesville's downtown post office. The Sykesville Old Main Line Visitor's Center and Post Office has been shuttered since Nov. 5, when its remaining three employees - Connie McKay, Kathy Gambrill and Judy Lettie - resigned in protest of Maher's dismissal. In an open letter to the community posted on a local blog, sykesvilleonline.com, McKay, Gambrill and Lettie voiced support for Maher, saying they were "baffled" by the circumstances surrounding the dismissal.

The Baltimore-Washington Parkway reopened to traffic early Saturday morning, after the successful removal of segment of the West Nursery Road bridge overnight. The closures of the parkway, which is a major route to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, are part of an ongoing and sometimes troubled project to replace the bridges by rolling them down the highway and slotting them into position. Hurricane Sandy and construction mishaps had delayed the project, but the bridge over the northbound side of the parkway - also called Route 295 - was replaced last weekend.