CMU project restores school in Detroit area

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A Detroit elementary school will have a makeover, thanks, in part, to the monitoring of four CMU volunteers.
William McDermott, executive director of the College of Extended Learning’s Metro Detroit Region; Melody Gorno, assistant director of the College of Extended Learning’s Metro Detroit Region; Ruthie White, manager of the Detroit Center of the College of Extended Learning; and Tyrone Jordan, director of the Metropolitan Detroit Outreach all visit Pulaski Elementary School frequently to monitor progress of repairs taking place at the school and to speak with Principal Doris Landrum. They fax a weekly report to Wayne County, which is sponsoring the project to repair Detroit schools.
CMU signed up for the project at the annual Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island in June. Participating companies and organizations were assigned individual school buildings earlier this summer. It was not something they had to do, but strictly volunteer.
“We’re trying to be a good corporate citizen,” McDermott said.
It is the job of the four volunteers to see that progress is being made, McDermott said. Repairs include painting, window repair and ceiling tile repair, along with replacements when necessary. McDermott called himself and the others “extra eyes” for the administration.
“They are very basic repairs that are intended to put in a fresh look so when the students return in September, they won’t be walking into buildings that aren’t friendly, cheerful and fresh. They’ll want to be there because it will look and feel better.”
Other groups are working on the yard and outside appearance of the school buildings.
“It’s part of a bigger effort,” McDermott said.
McDermott said the new leadership of the Detroit Public Schools took on the project to send a message to parents and kids that the schools will be better.
The four who are going would like to “adopt” the school, but McDermott said that’s a preliminary thought and no talk has been made about it.
“The principal was so excited that a state university was there,” he said. “There were so many ideas she had about what we could do.”
So far, progress has been good and steady, McDermott said.
“We’re lucky – we know in some other schools it’s not going as well,” he said.
The personal effect cannot be denied.
“It makes you feel like you’re doing something good for kids,” McDermott said.