GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Wednesday is shaping up to be a big day for the Grand Rapids Public School district.
The district will officially cut the ribbon, today, on the new museum high school following a $10 million renovation to the historic building. That building, located at 54 Jefferson, is the former location to original Grand Rapids Public Museum.
District spokesperson, John Helmholdt, calls the ribbon cutting a "momentous and historic occasion."
The idea of the museum school started 6 ago, in 2012, just as superintendent Teresa Weatherall-Neal was engaging in district’s ambitious ‘Transformation Plan.’ Since then, with the help of community partners and tax payers, the museum school has “developed into a cutting edge instructional model that is now getting national and international attention,” says Helmholdt.
GRPS opened the museum school three years ago with just a sixth grade class. It has added one grade each year and is now ready for high schoolers.
“We are now opening the first 9th grade at 54 Jefferson,” says Helmholdt. “There will be 90 students. The original 60 and an additional 30 new slots that are available. That will be part of the high school at 54 Jefferson. It will eventually be a six through 12th grade school.”
Those students use a, roughly, two-mile radius of downtown, as their ‘classroom.’ According to Helmholdt, they spend a lot of time at the public library, City Hall, area museums and they of course have access to the public museum archives.
“90% of the museum collection is in storage, in the archives, behind 54 Jefferson. Students are going to be able to activate those archives and bring these artifacts out into the artifact lab and really engage in that, place-based, hands on learning. So it is a cutting edge instructional model. One that takes the best knowledge of what we know of those different practices and incorporate it into the classroom,” says Helmholdt.
He believes the Museum School is a huge part of what he calls GRPS’ urban transformation success story.
“In many ways this ribbon cutting, this school opening, is symbolic of the success of the transformation plan. You have to remember, prior to 2012, we didn't go a single year, for 20 years, where we didn't close a school. So, we closed one or more schools each year for 20 years. We eliminated 1,000 jobs, we closed 35 schools, we cut $100 million out of the budget. That was then and this is now. We are not closing schools. We are opening schools. We are getting state and national attention,” says Helmholdt.
“Graduation rates are up 50%, dual-enrollment is up more than 50%, chronic absenteeism is down 30%, college career readiness has had six consecutive years of growth. We have the third highest composite score gains in the county. So we have got some great energy and momentum. This ribbon cutting is just, yet, another example of the continued success."
The ribbon cutting is free and open to the public. It will be held at 11 o'clock and followed by a street party with free food from area food trucks, a D.J. street art, games and activities and a tour of the school.
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