The plan calls for closing Forest Park High School for renovations and sending those students to Northwestern High School.

Those upset about the idea held a news conference Thursday saying the plan is an all-around bad idea and that no one from North Avenue is listening.

"I don't think it should happen," said Laren Yates, a Northwestern student.

The plan is for the district to relocate the Forest Park students to Northwestern next year, then close Northwestern and all the students would go to Forest Park.

Parent Michael Rose said that would leave one high school in the northwest corridor. He's against the move.

"It's hectic for the kids, disorganized. It creates chaos for the kids, and it also creates an environment of 'them versus us,'" Rose said.

Alumni associations from both schools are also concerned that putting the students under one roof would create tension and chaos, even if the building is retrofitted so they don't pass each other in the hall.

"My concern is that we are rivalries. We compete against each other, and since we will be in same school, maybe competing on the same fields, and maybe combining the athletic teams, that everything goes smoothly and there are no disruptions," said Rufus Thompson, with the Forest Park Alumni Association.

"The biggest concern that we have is nobody knows anything, no parents, no students, the alumni association. All we know is it's supposed to be happening. No one has informed us when it happens, how it happens and what's going to be the inconvenienced," said Michael Johnson, president of the Northwestern High School Alumni Association.

City Councilwomen Rikki Spector and Sharon Middletown offered their support and said they will advocate on their behalf. In the meantime, it's the students who have to get their heads ready to deal with what appears will be their reality next year.

"We're going to keep our distance and they're going to keep their distance, and that's what we have to do, and we are going to learn and try to get the best education we can get," said Kyaniel Rivers, a Northwestern student.

The district released a response Thursday evening, saying, "In August 2018, city schools, the city of Baltimore and its state of Maryland partners will celebrate the opening of eight beautiful new and significantly renovated schools, among them Forest Park High School. That achievement will be a large down payment on the commitment of up to $1 billion in revitalized school buildings for Baltimore students. The 2013 plan also included the difficult reality that some schools in our city, as in many other American urban areas, would have to close in order to afford to keep schools operating and providing efficient facilities and growing a commitment to a quality educational system. Northwestern High School was listed as one of 26 schools to close as a condition of the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding for what is now the 21st Century School Buildings Program (see Exhibit 6).

"The Northwestern and Forest Park student bodies will become one school in the 2018 school year. As such, city schools has a responsibility to lead change. City schools has addressed the issue of this co-location and eventual merger with alumni, elected officials, several neighborhood community associations since October. A letter detailing the co-location was sent out to parents in February. Since then, the senior staff of Northwestern and Forest Park have been intimately involved in planning with North Avenue on the myriad of issues including a shared facility design, academic curriculum and student support, athletics and transportation, family services, staffing etc. A meeting for Northwestern staff and students is scheduled for Monday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Northwestern."

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