APS celebrates milestone in renovation of MLK Jr.’s childhood school

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen, center, poses for a photograph with members of the David T. Howard High School Alumni Association during a "topping out" ceremony on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. Bill Goodman/Atlanta Public Schools

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen, center, poses for a photograph with members of the David T. Howard High School Alumni Association during a "topping out" ceremony on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. Bill Goodman/Atlanta Public Schools

Atlanta Public Schools celebrated a major moment in the massive renovation project to reopen the childhood school attended by Martin Luther King Jr.

The district on Friday held a “topping out” ceremony, a tradition in the construction industry that takes place when the highest beam of a building is put in place.

APS is undertaking a $52 million renovation of the David T. Howard Building in the Old Fourth Ward.

The former school has been shuttered for decades, but the district plans to reopen it in the fall of 2020 as a middle school.