Photo by Christina Sturdivant

“Happy first day of school!” was the recurring greeting this morning outside of Ron Brown Preparatory High School in Deanwood. “It’s like a holiday for us,” Michelle Lerner, spokesperson for D.C. Public Schools, told me as I walked onto the campus of my former middle school, which shuttered in 2013.

The scene was much different today than when I graduated 16 years ago. Balloons were attached to bike racks, which didn’t exist on the Northeast campus back then. Educators and community members took selfies, a relatively new phenomenon, in front of the building.

And most significantly, Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomed a crowd of dozens to the opening of the city’s only all-boys public high school, which focuses on educating males of color. Through academic and social engagement, Bowser said, the school will get students “ready to be the fathers and young men that will lead our city forward.”

The idea of an all-boys school did not come without controversy. Last February, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh questioned the fairness of opening the school, which would only serve boys.

Her concerns were echoed by the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued that, according to a U.S. Department of Education regulation, if a school system creates a same-sex public school for one gender, they must also provide substantially equal opportunities for the other gender. The ACLU has brought lawsuits and filed complaints to block single-sex schools in several states that they believe violated the policy.

After looking into the plan, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said that opening the all-boys school would not undermine similar educational opportunities that already exist for girls in the District. The all-boys classes were in session this morning.

Chancellor Kaya Henderson addressed the conflict today, saying that DCPS plans to create new resources for girls as well, whether they be in the form of a school or another type of program. But that plan won’t fall under her guidance though, as she recently announced her resignation after five years on the job. “Simply put, I am ready to take on new challenges,” Henderson wrote in a letter to DCPS staff last month.

Still, Bowser calls Henderson the all-boys school’s visionary. As she approaches her last month as chancellor, Henderson introduced a new leader this morning on a day when 104 DCPS campuses opened their doors to students. As the ceremony’s emcee, she handed the microphone to Dr. Benjamin Williams, telling the crowd that she “couldn’t think of a finer choice,” as the school’s principal.

Williams, who recently served as associate principal at the School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens Education Campus, referred to his 110 ninth grade students as “kings,” after thanking the mayor and chancellor for the opportunity to “live a lifelong dream” of being a principal. In three years, Williams says, he hopes to have a student body of 600 kings, in grades nine through 12, from across the city.

Earlier this year, Williams told DCist that he’s excited to create a place where students can comfortably prepare themselves in an academic setting. “We really get to individualize the academic program, we’ll get to know where students are intimately, and gear our instructional practices toward helping them reach their goals,” Williams said.

Today, inside of the school, young men settled in renovated classrooms on the school’s first floor. They were decked out in their daily uniform—blazers, neck ties, and khakis. After the ceremony, Bowser and Williams hosted a walk-through of the first level’s freshly painted hallways and new cafeteria. The building’s complete renovation carries a $58 million price tag and a three-year timeline.

It’s not the only school getting a makeover. Bowser mentioned a new beginning at Roosevelt High School in Northwest, which reopened its 13th Street entrance Friday after 25 years and $140 million of renovations. In addition, MacFarland Middle School reopened with a dual-language program in Spanish and English, and Anacostia High School is launching an academy to train students for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, among other new additions, according to a DCPS release.

Bowser also noted that on August 8, DCPS opened 11 campuses which were given extended school years, again crediting Henderson for the “significant achievement.”