At least 100 parents and students of Towson Catholic High School attended a rally Wednesday morning protesting the closure of the 86-year-old school in the fall.

Mary Gail Hare has the story for The Baltimore Sun.

Faced with rapidly declining enrollment and mounting debt, the co-educational school notified parents and its 20-member faculty by letter and e-mail on Tuesday that it will not open for classes in September. It becomes the archdiocese's first high school to close in many years.

Judy Messina, vice president of the PTA and the mother of a rising senior who attended the rally, said, "We're still in shock. If they knew this was coming, why did they wait until six weeks before the new school year [to announce the closure]?"

Many families have already given their deposits and started making their tuition payments.

Messina said she is very disappointed in the pastor, Monsignor F. Dennis Tinder. "He has never been available to any of us. Not the faculty, not the children. We just never see him."

The rally was attended by students who were wearing their uniforms and carrying signs. Alumni returned to their alma mater wearing their senior year T-shirts.

(Photograph by The Baltimore Sun)

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.