Detroit Public Schools to invest $700 million to update buildings

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Many schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District will be upgraded thanks to a $700 million investment announced Tuesday.

"When you look at the overall state of the school buildings, they’re not where they should be for children or employees," said Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti. "We’re excited to announce $700 million infrastructure investment that will benefit over 80% of the schools already in the district."

The money, which comes from COVID-19 relief funding, will also go toward construction of some new buildings.

"It’s a multi-faceted plan. On the one hand you're going to see new school building, so we’re proposing a new building for Cody High School, a new building for Pershing High School," Vitti said. "We’re also reactivating some smaller buildings with the emphasis on pre-K."

There’s also a new building proposed for Paul Robeson and Malcolm X Academy.

The district hopes the plan will bring back students who have left Detroit schools.  

"We know there are about 30,000 students, actually probably more, who live in the city and do not attend school at DPSCD," Vitti said. "We want to get to a point where Detroiters think again about sending their kids to the neighborhood schools, and that’s why we are accelerating the revitalization of the city and of the district."

School board members are excited about the investment.

"I’m glad we are looking at innovation with respect to our school buildings. I'm really looking at ways that we can advance and improve that," said  Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, a Detroit school board member at large.

Public meetings are planned to hear community input.