Officials with Washington State’s Green Dot Public Schools will celebrate the grand opening of Destiny Charter Middle School in Tacoma in September.
Located inside the former John R. Rogers Elementary School building—a three-story, 53,000-square-foot, 108-year-old building—Destiny Charter Middle School opened its doors this month to an inaugural class of approximately 200 students following a $6.9 million renovation.
“Our official first day is next Monday [August 24],” said Green Dot Public Schools Executive Director Bree Dusseault. “We are doing a week of half-day orientation classes with students this week as well, which just kicked off this morning.”
The school is expected to expand into a full middle school with three grade levels and 600 students over the next three years.
The school building sat mostly vacant for more than a decade after it was closed by the Tacoma Public School District in 2002. It was designed by the architect Frederick Heath—who also designed the Pythian Temple, Stadium High School, and the Ansonia Building (among may other historically significant Tacoma buildings)—and was the first concrete school building in Tacoma. But it was never listed on any historic registers or officially deemed a local landmark. Historic Tacoma placed the building on its watch list of endangered historic properties before it was sold two years ago to a private investor. Last year, a lease was signed and the renovation was under way to turn the building into Destiny Charter Middle School. The Tacoma Daily Index published a feature article about the building renovation earlier this summer (see “Renovation revives shuttered, century-old Rogers Elementary School building,” Tacoma Daily Index, June 25, 2015).
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held on Tues., Sept. 15, between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., at Destiny Charter Middle School, located at 1301 E. 34th St., in Tacoma. The event will include remarks from Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland and Tacoma Poet Laureate Cathy Nguyen.
More information is available online here.
The former John R. Rogers Elementary School building in Tacoma was recently renovated into Destiny Charter Middle School. (FILE PHOTO BY TODD MATTHEWS)
The former John R. Rogers Elementary School building in Tacoma was recently renovated into Destiny Charter Middle School. (FILE PHOTO BY TODD MATTHEWS)
