Mold growing in classrooms. Students squashing cockroaches. Leaky roofs. These are some of the images of Detroit Public Schools that attracted nationwide attention in January. But it’s not the story of all, or even most, of Detroit’s schools. The story behind University Prep Science & Math Elementary School could show other schools how to turn around an old building and make it usable.

The school occupies the Sidney D. Miller Junior High and High School building, about a mile northeast of the city’s central downtown district. It was built in 1921, eventually served a mostly African-American student population and changed from a middle school to a high school and back again. In 2007, the building closed.