NEW ORLEANS — The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) hosted a ribbon-cutting and building dedication ceremony today, Wednesday, Nov. 2, for the newly constructed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School at 5300 N. Rocheblave St., at 10:00 a.m.
The school is the first newly built school in the lower Ninth Ward since Hurricane Katrina devastated the area.
Students, families, teachers and community leaders gathered to celebrate the new $39.4 million facility that was built at the former Alfred Lawless school site.
Scheduled to attend the event were:
• Henderson Lewis, Jr. Ph.D., Superintendent, Orleans Parish School Board
• Mitch Landrieu, Mayor, City of New Orleans
• Mike Womack, Director, FEMA's Louisiana Recovery Office
• John Brown, Sr., Member, OPSB, District 1
• James A. Gray, II, Councilmember, District E
• Wesley Bishop, Louisiana State Senate, District 4
• Doris Hicks, CEO, Friends of King District
These projects and others are guided by the School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish, an unprecedented school construction program launched as a result of the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. The $1.8 billion plan, approved in November 2008 by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and the OPSB, is the first major facilities plan for Orleans Parish schools since 1952.
