INDIANAPOLIS — In just two days, the Indianapolis Public Schools board will vote on a plan to reorganize central Indiana's largest school district.
Dubbed Rebuilding Stronger, the proposal would give a total overhaul to IPS programs while tackling racial and district inequities in education.
"Rebuilding Stronger is really equalizing the playing field for our students," said Adrienne Kuchik, principal at James Garfield School 31.
Rebuilding Stronger hasn't yet been approved by the school board, but the plan already has educators paying close attention.
Dr. Warren Morgan, the school district's chief academic officer, said there are big gaps when it comes to racial equity across IPS and equal access to opportunities.
“Creating access and equity across our district, ensuring all of our students have an experience that is equitable across the board and then also really making sure that some of our programs are not concentrated on certain areas of the city," Morgan said. "Currently, if you live on the north side of the city, but on the south side of the city where Garfield school is at, there is no access to choice programs and Rebuilding Stronger will change that."
Currently, only one in four middle schoolers in IPS have access to band and orchestra classes. Rebuilding Stronger would increase access to 56% percent of middle schoolers and let 100% of those students enroll in music programs.
When it comes to world languages, just one in four students have access to those programs. Rebuilding Stronger would ensure all middle schoolers could access language classes.
Even with basics like math, there are inequities across the district. Currently one in three IPS middle schoolers have access to algebra I classes. But with the Rebuilding Stronger plan, every middle schooler who wants to take the class can.
“And I was teaching algebra I, but you can only teach it in groups and sections with this group, but you have to teach this curriculum with another group. So I think opening it up with Rebuilding Stronger and moving those classes and those kids to the middle school, it’ll benefit us all,” said Stephanie Smith, a teacher at IPS School 31.
Kuchik said years of enrollment decline have led them to just one classroom per grade in the K-8 school with limited resources for classes like algebra.
"Even if we have the means to do that, because our enrollment is so low it's like I couldn't schedule it, there's no staff member I could pull for it. So this is a really exciting time just for the district in general for the ability to provide equitably for all students," Kuchik said.
The district is proposing pivoting toward dedicated elementary and middle school models with minimum enrollments so they can offer more classes and extracurricular programs. And they'll be dividing IPS into four enrollment zones to ensure programming reaches every family in town.
“In order to provide that experience and at the middle school level, we want to make sure every student has access to algebra I, we want to make sure that every student has access to foreign language, to band, to the arts, also college and career readiness courses," Morgan said. "In order to do that at the middle school level, we realized we needed to make elementaries at scale so that means making sure schools were at least 350 for schools that will be K-5 and at least 500 for our middle schools."
Going through IPS years earlier herself, Smith said she had these opportunities in the classroom that IPS is now working to bring back. She said she's excited to see that these programs may soon be a part of every student's future at IPS.
"Now that they're opening those opportunities back up, I think this will open it up for our kids so when they get to the college level or the career path they're going, they'll be well-prepared for the future," Smith said.
To pay for Rebuilding Stronger, IPS is asking for taxpayers to fund two referendums. The first is a $410 million capital referendum for facility investments. The second is a $50 million annually through 2031 to pay for these equity improvements.
The board will vote on the plan Thursday.
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