INDIANAPOLIS — A group of public school parents and education advocates is calling on Indianapolis Public Schools to model more of its schools after local charter schools where they say Black and brown students are showing greater educational success.
They delivered a petition with 1,000 signatures to the IPS school board and administration today.
"When you look at a child, they're not just a number," said Latoya Tahirou, who calls herself an IPS supporter, even though her two youngest children switched from IPS and now go to a charter school.
"I feel like my children's school does a phenomenal job of closing the opportunity gap. Their data shows that kids are thriving academically there," Tahirou explained.
Wednesday, she was among dozens of other parents and education advocates calling for IPS to look closer at data from the state, showing local charter schools with better scores and more success for its Black and brown students.
"I'm calling on IPS to partner with public charter schools, when it means delivering better educational opportunities for Indianapolis children," said Ashley Thomas, a mother who spoke at a news conference before helping to deliver the petition.
Elisha Davison, a senior at one of those charter schools, said he'd been an IPS student before that and attended six different schools in the district.
"I can say first hand, that I have attended schools with clear, concise and successful models for learning and also schools with almost no stability or functional model of learning. This is the opportunity gap," Davison said.
In their petition, parents called on IPS to develop a plan by June to form more partnerships with successful charter schools and model their successes.
"It shouldn't be that hard to have a quality education for your child," said Tahirou.
IPS Superintendent Dr. Aleesia Johnson issued a statement saying she appreciated the perspectives and advocacy of concerned parents and community members.
"The district is actively addressing the academic performance gap through our 'Rebuilding Stronger' initiative," she said.
In 2022, the IPS school board approved the initiative which reconfigured grades, looked at ways to replicate successful school models and make improvements to school buildings.
Rebuilding Stronger isn't its only initiative the district pointed out. Johnson also noted that this fall, IPS will be launching "Engage Every Student Indianapolis" to provide high quality before and after school programs for all pre-K through fifth-grade students.