Street in front of all-boys academy renamed for MLK

9/17/2010
BY CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
BLADE STAFF WRITER

The message of economic independence through education resonated loudly in the message of Martin Luther King, Jr., the revered father of the American Civil Rights movement.

That message Friday was delivered at a ceremony for the renaming of the one-block stretch of Forest Avenue in front of the main entrance of the school as Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

The Toledo City Council approved the name change on Tuesday, and a new street sign was unveiled Friday in a ceremony attended by the students, two school board members, city council members, and other community leaders.

The school was recast this year as an all-boys academy in a last-moment change to preserve the district's two single-gender academies. Toledo Public Schools was to scrap the academies and combine the sexes as a way to save money to help close a $39 million budget hole.

But school officials, in a surprise move, saved the programs. It voted to move the boys at Lincoln Academy to MLK and then shut Lincoln down. The girls at MLK were moved to nearby Ella P. Stewart Academy for girls.

The Blade will continue to develop this story for you.

Contact Christopher D. Kirkpatrick at:

ckirkpatrick@theblade.com

or 419-724-6134.