Petition to Preserve Historic School that MLK Attended

Residents are trying to preserve an Atlanta school Martin Luther King Jr. once attended. 

As of Monday evening, more than 300 people have signed a petition to keep and renovate David T. Howard School in the city’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.

Atlanta school parent Priscilla Borders started the petition, urging the Atlanta Board of Education to use the historic school to solve overcrowding issues — and not to demolish it.

“Because of the historical nature of the building, we want that to stay intact,” Borders says. “The fact that Dr. King’s house is down the street and Dr. King attended that school as an elementary student. So it’s something that, you know, comes full circle with the historic district.”

Borders says the option of demolishing the building came up in the last Atlanta Board of Education meeting.

However, Kimberly Willis Green, a spokeswoman for Atlanta Public Schools, says the district has no near-term plans to demolish the building.

“The David T. Howard building is still on the list for possible administrative use by the district,” Green says.

In a letter, Atlanta superintendent Erroll Davis did not give any details on how the building would be used.

It has not been used as a school since 1976.

Meanwhile, the school’s alumni association says they plan to meet Tuesday to discuss the school’s future.