Charles F. Kettering High School in Detroit closed due to financial decisions made by the Detroit Public Schools emergency manager, affecting the local community that had relied on the school for over 45 years. A farewell barbecue was held to commemorate the school's impact on its students and alumni amidst a backdrop of declining neighborhood services and surrounding abandoned properties. The closure is part of a broader strategy to manage the city's struggles and downsize its infrastructure.

2. HARPER & VAN DYKE

3. 94 & VAN DYKE AREA

4. SCHOOL CONVENIENTLY LOCATED OFF OF I-94 IN
DETROIT

5. KETTERING HIGH SCHOOL CURRENT CONDITION

6. KETTERING HIGH SCHOOL

7. CLOSING OF PLANT LEADS TO SCHOOL
CLOSING

10. THE CLOSING OF CHARLES F. KETTERING
HIGH SCHOOL ON DETROIT’S EAST SIDE
By Walter Gilberti
13 June 2012
On Saturday, about 100 people gathered for a farewell barbecue on the Charles F.
Kettering High School grounds. Former teachers, support staff, alumni and
some students congregated in a friendly but somber affair to reflect on their
experiences at the school that educated the youth of this now-dilapidated east
side neighborhood for more than 45 years.
The Kettering High School campus
Several months ago, Detroit Public Schools (DPS) emergency financial manager
Roy Roberts, a former General Motors executive, announced yet another round
of school closures in Detroit. Kettering High School was among those selected
for termination. In addition, Roberts listed those schools that while remaining
open would no longer be part of DPS, but would constitute a new district for so-
called failed schools, the EAS (Education Achievement System).
The decision to close Kettering High School, actually one of the more recently
constructed schools in the city, dovetails neatly with the plans of Detroit mayor
David Bing and the Democratic Party-controlled City Council to “downsize” the
city by cutting off services to the residents of the most rundown neighborhoods

11. DPS SCHOOL PROPERTY FOR SALE

12. CROCKETT RELOCATING THIS LOCATION
CLOSED

13. BUS STOP LOCATED ON VAN DYKE NEAR SCHOOL

14. FORMERLY THE NEIGHBORHOOD MOVIE THEATRE
EASTOWN POPULAR FROM ‘60S TO EARLY ‘80S

15. LIQUOR STORE CLOSED DOWN

16. NEIGHBORHOOD EXACTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM
KETTERING

20. ONE OF THE LOCAL CHURCHES

21. CLOSED COMMUNITY CENTER

22. CLOSED COMMUNITY CENTER
PLAYGROUND

24. ABANDONED HOUSE COVERED BY TREES

25. ABANDONED HOUSE COVERED BY TREES

26. HOUSE WITH LITERARY ARTIFACTS

29. BURNED HOUSE & BOAT

30. NEIGHBORING HOUSES ACROSS FROM
ABANDONED HOUSES

31. LOCAL CHURCH

33. NEW HOMES BEING BUILT BY THE KE
HIGH SCHOOL

34. COMMUNITY CENTER

35. LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD

36. NEIGHBORHOOD BASKETBALL COURT

37. LOCAL ASIAN NAIL SHOP

38. LOCAL BARBERSHOP

39. LOCAL AFRICAN BRAID SHOP

40. MURAL OF KETTERING REPRESENTING A NEW
COMMUNITY OF BLACK AND WHITE BUILT IN THE 60’S

41. GOODBYE