Larry Patrick, President

Class of 1963

 

When construction of the new Cass Technical High School was complete a few years ago, the Detroit Public Schools central administration had plans of demolishing the old building to  make way for the construction of an athletic field for girls softball. Most of our alumni expressing an opinion on this plan did not want to see the old building demolished. However, there were many of you who supported the plan to demolish the old building so that female students could have expanded opportunities for softball. Because our alumni were divided on this issue, our alumni association did not take a position.

            In recent months, the Detroit Public School District has faced financial challenges which resulted in the district not having sufficient funds to pay its bills. The financial crisis reached a point where the state superintendent of schools convened a Review  Team to determine if a Financial Manager should be appointed to handle the  district's finances. Currently, the district will need to borrow money to  meet its basic operations for this fiscal year. The district administration is even planning on laying off teachers at Cass Tech that our alumni fought  to get assigned to our alma mater just 2 months ago.

            The district has not been in a  financial position to properly secure the many former school buildings it  has closed over the past few years. These buildings have been vandalized  and become eyesores in the city. Many of them sit open to trespass and are  targets for criminal activities. Unfortunately, the building that formerly  housed our alma mater falls in that category of surplus DPS buildings that  the district does not have the money to secure or demolish.

            Recognizing  this current state of affairs, and recognition that DPS must focus it's  attention in the foreseeable future on eliminating its financial deficit  over the next few years, the CTAA Board of Directors unanimously approved  our association's support for the Detroit Board of Education  to convey the building to the Historic Cass Tech Preservation Society (HCTPS), a 501c(3) tax-exempt organization that was formed to preserve, repair, and restore the building and see that it is put back into good use. HCTPS is led by Ray Litt ('48) and Francis  Grunow ('94), who have worked tirelessly to make certain that this  historic building is put back to good use instead of being an eyesore and  haven for criminal activity Go to casstechhistoric.org for more information about HCTPS and how you can support their efforts. More information about our alumni association's efforts to support this action will be provided in upcoming issues of the Green Scene.