Sterling Heights — Just days before students across Michigan head to the classroom for the new school year, Utica Community Schools, the state's second largest school district, Sunday celebrated the reopening of a reconstructed elementary school, one of at least three planned.
School district officials and the community unveiled the revamped DeKeyser Elementary at 39600 Atkinson in Sterling Heights at an open house Sunday.
After remarks from Superintendent Robert Monroe, DeKeyser's principal Shannon Hathcock, and members of the design team and school board, a ribbon-cutting ceremony in gymnasium signaled the school's official reopening.
“Utica schools has always had a really long legacy of pride in their schools, so I think it’s at an all-time high for us right now, he said," said Monroe.
Looking toward the reconstruction of two other Utica schools, Monroe said, "We learned we can get it done in a year.”
“We learned that our innovation to give kids new and creative learning spaces are going to be phenomenal. They actually look better now in real life than they did on paper," he said.
Renovations at DeKeyser include upgrades like safety locks and shatter-resistant glass in classrooms, dedicated spaces for inter-grade collaboration, and new playground and gym facilities.
Standing in the gym looking out at the crowd of parents and students, principal Shannon Hathcock said: "It’s so wonderful to watch everybody experience it for the first time.
"Kids were screaming, saying, I can’t wait to come back. I mean, kids had tears in their eyes."
Hathcock pointed to collaborative spaces as a major improvement for DeKeyser. “Our learning communities are beautiful," she said. "They’re just so big and large, which gives us the same feel we had in our open-concept building, so we didn’t lose that.”
Utica, which has about 25,000 students, plans to completely reconstruct Graebner Elementary and Havel Elementary over the next two years.
Now that DeKeyser has reopened, Graebner temporarily will be relocated to Rose Kidd Elementary for reconstruction during the 2025-26 school year, with completion expected in the fall of 2026.
DeKeyser students and teachers were housed at Rose Kidd last year while reconstruction was underway.
"Knowing it was temporary was a challenge and then you know packing everything up again and moving it back over here, it just felt very unstable," Jennifer Trupp said in her third-grade classroom.
But, the 25-year veteran instructor said, "it's good to be home."
Tracy DeWitt, who has three children at DeKeyser and serves on the school's parent-teacher organization, praised the reconstruction project at an information booth she was running outside the school.
"It’s mind-blowing," she said. "I mean, remarkable in every sense."
Dewitt, who also teaches kindergarten at another Utica school added, “I think a lot of the optimism for the children are these collaboration spaces because it really takes away from where they get very concerned at what class they’re in and they’re going to be stuck in one class, and not in classes with their friends."
"But being here, they’re mixed up all the time, like they are with all the other classes in their grade. They do a lot of collaborative learning," she said.
As the school year approaches — Utica students head back Tuesday, while Detroit Public Schools Community District, the state's largest district, begins Monday — districts across Metro Detroit have been putting the final touches on building updates.
In Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, crews worked outside elementary and middle schools most of last week.
In some districts, students will see significant changes. Clintondale Community Schools, for example, in Macomb County, is repurposing its high school to become a secondary campus that will house middle and high school students.
"The middle and high school students have separate entrances, follow separate bell schedules and lunch periods while maintaining distinct school identities," said Alexandra Hichel, a district spokeswoman.
Hichel said the middle school, only a fraction of which was previously being used, will be repurposed.
"While progress has been delayed due to the July 28 flood that impacted Clinton Township, our vision for the space remains strong," she said. "We see it as a future hub for academic and business partnerships that will further strengthen both our schools and the greater community."
Staff Writer Julia Cardi contributed