Indianapolis Public Schools’ superintendent announces Rebuilding Stronger plan

INDIANAPOLIS — Throughout her state of the district speech, Indianapolis Public Faculties’ Superintendent Dr. Aleesia Johnson introduced particulars of the district’s Rebuilding Stronger draft plan.

The plan, Johnson stated, “is a century within the making.” She stated it’s a dedication to youngsters and your entire group.

If permitted by the college board in November, it can profit everybody, Johnson stated.

She delivered the speech at Arlington Center Faculty, and as she famous, could be the brand new residence of a STEM, project-based studying faculty if the draft plan is permitted.

The plan, in line with the district, focuses on increasing what works whereas making a roadmap to ship nice colleges, wonderful choices and extra equitable entry.

“The arduous reality is that our actuality has been divided between selection colleges, typically with more difficult courses, and neighborhood colleges, which haven’t all the time had the identical choices,” Johnson stated. “We additionally know that for therefore many youngsters, it’s the humanities, or music, or staff sports activities that draw them into faculty and studying — but at quite a lot of our colleges, a toddler might need solely a kind of choices. These limitations have fallen particularly arduous on children of shade in our district, who attend neighborhood colleges in increased numbers. Far too many have been denied the precise type of choices that make children enthusiastic about faculty.”

Throughout a briefing Tuesday morning with reporters, Johnson and different district officers mentioned the plan. Listed here are the important thing issues it’s good to know.

The 8 elements of Indianpaolis Public Faculties’ Rebuilding Stronger plan

These elements tackle the wants and desires from the group to deal with the district’s “most urgent challenges,” in line with the district.

1. Creating devoted Okay-5 and 6-8 colleges to create an “thrilling and sturdy” faculty expertise for elementary and center faculty college students.
2. Improve equitable entry to varsities and cut back pupil mobility by creating enrollment zones.
3. Improve amenities and modify colleges to accommodate new applications, educational fashions or grade reconfiguration.
4. Enhance pupil entry to high-performing and high-demand colleges in all zones.
5. Enhance entry to free pre-k by including applications in colleges
6. Improve accessibility of particular education schemes in every enrollment zone
7. Provide elevated entry to high-ability programming to eligible college students in a extra centralized location.
8. Cut back the variety of small colleges and poor amenities whereas bettering pupil enrollment

A serious a part of the plan entails creating Okay-5 and 6-8 colleges to create equitable experiences. Beneath the proposed plan, all college students in Okay-5 IPS colleges can have entry to:

• Arts
• Music
• Bodily training
• Pc science
• Core phonics curriculum daily in grades Okay-3
• Libraries with up-to-date collections and alternatives to borrow books
• Faculty and profession prepared curriculum
• Highschool connections

Beneath the proposed plan, all center faculty college students can have entry to:

• Be taught to play a musical instrument
• Athletic programming
• seventh grade college students can take pre-Algebra and eighth grade college students can be taught Algebra 1. It will make it attainable for college students to finish Calculus earlier than they graduate.
• Faculty and profession counseling
• International language beginning in seventh grade
• Civil and social research

To help the brand new Okay-5 and 6-8 colleges, a number of colleges will change the grade ranges supplied.

The next colleges will transition to Okay-5 colleges

• Anna Brochhausen Elementary Faculty
• Brookside Elementary Faculty
• Carl Wilde Elementary Faculty
• Charles W Fairbanks Elementary Faculty
• Christian Park Elementary
• Clarence Farrington Elementary Faculty
• Chilly Spring Faculty (6-8 grade to William Penn)
• Eleanor Skillen Elementary Faculty
• Ernie Pyle Elementary Faculty
• James Russell Lowell Elementary Faculty
• Jonathan Jennings Elementary Faculty
• Lew Wallace Elementary Faculty
• Meredith Nicholson Elementary Faculty
• Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary Faculty
• Theodore Potter Elementary Faculty
• Robert Lee Frost Elementary Faculty
• William McKinley Elementary Faculty
• Adelante @ Emma Donnan Faculty
• Middle for Inquiry II (84)
• Middle for Inquiry III (27)
• Middle for Inquiry IV (70)
• Chilly Spring Faculty (6-8 grade to Penn 49)
• Daniel Webster Elementary Faculty
• Eliza A Blaker Elementary Faculty
• Frederick Douglass Elementary Faculty
• George W Carver Montessori Faculty
• George W Julian Elementary Faculty
• International Prep @ Riverside 44
• James A Garfield Elementary Faculty
• James Whitcomb Riley Faculty 43
• Merle Sidener Gifted Academy (from 2-8 to 1-5, 6-8 grade to Harshman)
• Rousseau McClellan Montessori Faculty
• Washington Irving Elementary Faculty (merged with CFI II)
• William A Bell Elementary Faculty

The next colleges change or reopen to supply 6-8 grades:

• Northwest Center Faculty
• Arlington Center Faculty
• Longfellow Center Faculty
• Harshman Center Faculty
• Broad Ripple Center Faculty (Purdue Polytechnic North Excessive Faculty can even be positioned at Broad Ripple)
• Howe Center Faculty
• William Penn
• Edison Faculty of the Arts

Citing numerous causes, together with low and or declining enrollment and buildings not being nicely utilized, the plan proposes the next colleges cease offering classroom instruction after the 2022-2023 faculty yr:

• Francis Bellamy PreK Middle and Step Forward Program
• George Buck Faculty 94
• Floro Torrence Faculty 83
• Raymond Brandes Faculty 65
• Francis Parker Faculty 56
• CFI 2 – Benjamin Harrison facility
• Paul Miller Faculty 114

A number of buildings will bear facility upgrades, together with new rooms, investing in VOIP telephone methods and intercoms, athletic subject enhancements and addressing constructing deficiencies, like inside lighting, fireplace alarms, paving surfaces and fencing.

Most buildings have a goal completion date of summer time 2024.

You’ll be able to view the presentation from the district under to be taught extra in regards to the Rebuilding Stronger plan.