INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two simultaneous drug busts in Indianapolis and Brownsburg nets over 16 pounds of marijuana, five stolen guns, and more.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said the busts, which happened Feb. 25 in the 2600 block of Indianapolis Avenue and in Brownsburg. IMPD’s SWAT team and their Violent Crime Task Force seized the drugs.

IMPD found:

• 402 grams of cocaine.
• 7.7 grams of unspecified pills.
• 16.8 pounds of marijuana.
• 5 stolen guns.
• One pill press.
• $4,139 in cash.

One person was arrested for three felonies for dealing drugs.

The investigation started from a previous cooperation between IMPD and U.S. Marshals, which uncovered more individuals in the operation beyond their original target.

We are fighting the wrong fight if we really want to improve educational outcomes in Indianapolis.

Each time I run into a former student, I ask them an essential question: “Did we prepare you for the life you wanted?”

For three disillusioning years, the answer was consistent: “This school didn’t prepare me for anything.”

At the time, I worked in a state takeover charter school, and I saw how poor management led to intense teacher turnover, shameful academic underperformance and even misreporting of dropouts to improve the school’s letter grade.

Briggs: The IPS-charter school fight puts politics over children

Certainly, there are some successful charter schools in Indianapolis, but this was not one of them and anyone who claimed charter schools were a panacea for the city’s academic underperformance hadn’t spent a day in my school.

I moved to Indianapolis Public Schools in 2018 because I wanted a more professional working environment. I wanted to join the union and to have my contract respected and upheld, and I was drawn to IPS’ International Baccalaureate program. I received an IB Diploma in 2011, and I wanted to provide that same rigorous, internationally minded curriculum to public school students in my community.

For the five years I worked in the IB program at Shortridge High School, when I asked students the same question, the answer changed to a resounding yes. Without fail, Shortridge graduates would come back to visit, telling us how college was a breeze. IB was hard, but yes, indeed, they were ready for what came next.

This was no small feat for a district-run school with a racially and socioeconomically diverse population, and where many of the students would go on to be first-generation college graduates. Its significance was not lost on me, after serving a similar population elsewhere and witnessing the dismal quality of education available to them.

It was this stark contrast that brought me back to teach in IPS this school year after teaching abroad. I have experienced the life-changing power of an education that is focused on critical thinking, literacy skills and global mindedness. As a teacher, I choose to work in IPS because I want to provide this rigorous, high-quality education to any family who chooses it.

Senate Bill 518 endangers this choice. By requiring the sharing of property tax funds with charter schools, it would cost the district tens of millions of dollars and lead to the closure of at least 20 schools, the elimination of hundreds of jobs and a decrease in transportation and program offerings in the district.

I have seen the ways in which IPS serves Indianapolis’ general public, including students with severe disabilities, without transportation, experiencing food insecurity, and students who are incarcerated, hospitalized or unhoused. These students’ education would be in jeopardy, all while specialized programs like IB would experience cuts.

At the same time, charter schools will gain little to make up for this devastating loss. Today, charter schools receive a $1,400 grant to offset the difference in property tax revenue they don’t receive. SB 518 takes this away and gives it back to the state. Paired with the effects of significant property tax cuts included in Gov. Mike Braun’s budget, that means most charter schools will have similar funding as before, even as IPS experiences massive cuts to its staffing and services.

At the end of the day, we are fighting the wrong fight if what we really want is to improve educational outcomes in Indianapolis. Rather than fueling an ideological war over district versus charter schools, we should be working together to call on lawmakers to increase per-pupil and complexity funding and to divert funds away from vouchers and into public schools by increasing the charter school grant.

We don’t have to tear down IPS for charter schools to be able to get more funding. We can be true partners in ensuring students and teachers have access to high-quality options wherever they live in our city.

As a teacher, I choose IPS, and I likely wouldn’t stay in the district if it meant working for a charter school again. If the Indiana General Assembly wants to retain teachers like me, it should oppose Senate Bill 518 and protect the financial viability of IPS.

Sarah TeKolste is an IB Spanish teacher at TC Howe Middle School in Indianapolis. She was the 2022 IPS Teacher of the Year and a finalist for Indiana Teacher of the Year; she is a Teach Plus Indiana alumna.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Most will recall the fantastic sight of the total solar eclipse in central Indiana in 2024.

This month, we will witness a total lunar eclipse, which is not as rare.

When to look for the eclipse

The timing of the lunar eclipse us in Indianapolis is mainly in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 14. Our partial part of the eclipse begins at 1:09 a.m.

Totality will be from 2:26-3:31 a.m. During this timeframe, the moon will be a reddish orange color as the Earth casts its shadow on it. This is why this full moon is referred to as a blood moon. By 4:47 a.m., the partial eclipse will come to a close.

Next lunar eclipses

It is much more common to see a total lunar eclipse than a total solar eclipse. Prior to the 2024 total solar eclipse, it had been centuries without being in totality for a solar eclipse in Indianapolis. We will only have to wait until March 3, 2026, for the next total lunar eclipse.

A partial lunar eclipse will also be seen in August 2026.

Be sure to check back in on our weather forecast as we get closer.

Find the latest seven-day forecast by visiting our weather blog.