After being known for decades as Henry W. Grady High School, the Atlanta campus across from Piedmont Park celebrated its new name and a bigger building.
Atlanta Public Schools officials held a ceremony Wednesday to mark the recently renamed and expanded Midtown High School.
The school board voted nearly a year ago to change Grady’s name, citing the racist history of the former managing editor of The Atlanta Constitution who died in 1889.
The name change coincided with a $34.9 million campus expansion and renovation, paid for using revenue from a one-cent sales tax approved five years ago. The project was completed before classes began in August.
APS called it “a new era” for the high school and acknowledged the students who petitioned officials in 2020 to drop the Grady name.
“Thank you students for raising your voices to ignite change!” the district said in a Wednesday post to Twitter.
The renovation project includes 10 new classrooms and two science labs, a media center, bigger cafeteria, more room for school counselors and spaces for career, technical and agricultural courses.
The district renamed the nearby football stadium after Eddie S. Henderson, an Atlanta principal, coach and athletic director who died in 2001.
APS has also recently celebrated other renamed schools. Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron New Beginnings Academy is the new name of the former Forrest Hill Academy. Joseph E. Brown Middle School was renamed Herman J. Russell West End Academy.
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