Cesar Chavez Academy - Introduction of The CCA High School

Introduction of The CCA High School

As students progressed through the Academy the decision was made to provide 8th graders with a Cesar Chavez high school to attend. A third building was needed and the Board of Directors purchased temporary modular buildings which were placed on the middle school campus to house high school students until a more permanent solution could be found. Middle school principal Beatrice Esquivel moved to become the founding high school principal and longtime middle school assistant principal Rick Guerra moved to become the middle school principal.

The modulars stayed in place for two years at the middle school location while the Board worked out a purchase agreement in the year 2000 for property at 1761 Waterman. This location housed a three-story abandoned office building and truck repair warehouse and was also used as a dumping ground for abandoned cars, building materials, etc. The property was purchased for the sum of approximately $350,000. The owner of the property, however, attempted to commit fraud by selling the property to two parties at once, and it was only after the involvement of the Board's land acquisition and project developer, Norman Lopatin of the firm Lopatin and Company, that the situation become resolved. Norman was also able to secure a significant financial concession on the purchase price for the Cesar Chavez Board because of the attempted fraud.

To finance the construction of the school the Board - through the Municipal Capital Markets Group - issued a $10 million Wall Street bond. This bond financed a renovation of the existing office building, a building extension to house additional classrooms and a cafeteria, along with the renovation of the former truck warehouse into a gymnasium and classroom building. The Board decided to save rather than tear down the former warehouse, as a testimony to the history of the community and to build a unique gymnasium/classroom experience. The Board also commissioned builder and artist Carlos Huerta to design historical era art work to ring the outer top walls of the building which depict various cultural symbols important to the Mayan, Aztec and Toltec worlds. The art works also include shamrocks, representing various ethnicities within Southwest Detroit and the historical friendship between the Mexican and Irish communities ("los patricios" (from St. Patrick) who fought on behalf of Mexico, Mexican people, and civil rights).