Takeover or Turnaround (Part 4)
This is the fourth installment in a series of blog posts this week regarding the possible takeover of several failing Indianapolis Public Schools by the State of Indiana.
This week concluded the first two of seven hearings regarding the possible takeover/turnaround of Indianapolis Public Schools that have been on academic probation for the past five years. And while it may be early, I am noticing a trend here and I’ll be interested to see if it continues throughout the remainder of the hearings.
Of the five options the state has presented regarding intervention no one wants the state to takeover a school and just about everyone who offered testimony at Arlington and Broad Ripple preferred the option of the state to adopting IPS’ plan to fix the ailing school. For both schools IPS has offered both a Plan A and Plan B. Plan “A” usually involves the school district hitting several benchmarks on testing, attendance, etc. Plan “B” tends to involve removing the teachers, administrators and staff from the failing schools and replacing them. Under no scenario does the state assume total or partial control of the school. In fact, Plan “B” tends to reset the clock and give the school district more time to turn things around.
At both hearings a number of parents, teachers, community leaders all extolled the virtues of how their schools were working and addressing deficiencies and all they needed was more time to get things moving. Something else I heard that was pretty disturbing was the need for consistency, where it was in academic policies or disciplining students. It was also shocking to find that both Broad Ripple and Arlington have been playing musical principals for the past several years averaging a new principal every 13 months. One teacher talked about 13 different curriculum for three grades in five years. No offense, but that is no way to run a district.
I spoke to Dr. Tony Bennett and State of Education Board member Dan Elsner, the President of Marian University, and both expressed concerns about the lack of consistency that seems to plague the IPS administration in the edicts it hands down to the individual schools. And while they were hesitant to say how they were leaning when it comes to a takeover, neither seemed keen on the idea of leaving the same people in complete control who are responsible for the putting the schools in the condition they are today.
And maybe that’s where the compromise lies, taking each school on academic probation and turning it into an individual learning center or free standing school. A special team comes in to manage the school, with a board made of up parents and other stakeholders. The state can oversee the logistical aspects of the school, but it is owner operated and the central office involvement is reduced to observer status. And please note, the takeover period is for an initial five years, and if the school has made a lot of progress and the district hasn’t gotten its act together, the state may not return the school to the district. Just a little something to ponder.
Tomorrow, we conclude the blog series by asking and answering the big question, should the Mayor have control over Indianapolis Public Schools? My answer may surprise you.
