City Wide Ribbon Cutting Celebrates New Detroit Public School Facilities

By Karen Hudson Samuels/Tell Us Detroit

DETROIT, MI - The first day of school will be an exciting eye-opening experience for 8,000 Detroit Public School students when they walk into their newly built or renovated school buildings on September 6th.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Tuesday at the new Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School to celebrate each of the nine public schools modernized as a result of a $500 million dollar bond proposal approved by voters in 2009.

Students, parents, principals and community groups turned out for their first look inside the new MLK Senior High School, constructed in just 14 months for $46 million dollars.

The transformation of Detroit’s public schools is part of the city’s comeback said Emergency Financial Manager Roy Roberts at the ribbon cutting program that featured music, dance -- and an emotional speech by MLK Principal Dr. Deborah Jenkins.

Dr. Jenkins spoke of the rising pride she felt for the new MLK, it’s historic namesake and its future as iconic educational institution.



The 49 year-old MLK has been replaced with a state-of-the-art two story complex that will emphasize a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum.

The layout of MLK is unique, hallways are color coded to help students get to right academic wing; yellow walls for freshmen, blue for STEM classrooms and common areas are accented with school’s colors, black and yellow. Students’ school badges will also be color coded to match the facility design.

Up- to-date science labs, an athletic complex with a swimming pool, a varsity gymnasium, and a performing arts area with a renovated auditorium, dance studio, band room and choral room – all new features awaiting MLK students.

In addition to the new construction of MLK, brand new facilities from the ground up were also built for from Samuel Gompers Elementary Middle School, Amelia Earhart Elementary Middle School.

Roy Roberts said the new surroundings for learning will impact one in eight DPS students, and when additional new projects open next school year, 20 percent of DPS students will attend remolded facilities.

Extensive renovations were done at Marcus Garvey Academy, Beckham Academy, Bunche Elementary Middle School, Denby High School, Henry Ford High School and Western International High School.