INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — The Indiana Board of Education is giving Indianapolis Public Schools a second chance to run three of its own schools.
The state took over Emma Donnan, Emmerich Manual and Thomas Carr Howe schools almost a decade ago. Now IPS will run them again, in time for the new school year starting late summer, 2020.
It is a change that affects neighborhoods, 1,400 students and their families.
Emma Donnan Elementary and Middle School and Manual High School will stay open. IPS will close Howe Community High School, forcing 600 students to choose new schools.
Rebecca Wheeler lives across the street from the school and two of her children attend Howe.
"It is like family to these kids," Wheeler said. "These kids built relationships with their teachers."
"I was devastated," said Wheeler's daughter, a sophomore. "I have to go to a new school environment. It's terrifying."
All three schools have struggled for more than a decade. When the state took over the troubled schools in 2011, it put Charter Schools USA in charge of running them and turning them around.
The company struggled at times to enroll enough students to make the schools profitable.
The most recent state-issued report cards available gave Emma Donnan Elementary an A, the middle school a C, Manual High School a C and Howe an F.
As the state board of education considered renewing the agreement, IPS argued to get the schools back, but numerous speakers at a Wednesday meeting sided with Charter Schools USA.
"The data doesn’t lie," one person told board members. "If you are good at what you do, you are allowed to continue."
Company CEO Sherry Hage called the board's decision heartbreaking.
"This decision marks an unprecedented move backward for the most at-risk children in Indianapolis," Hage said in a prepared statement.
IPS will manage the schools with help from three local charter school organizations. It is a new approach that will hopefully provide new opportunities for inner-city kids.
Howe students will get to choose other existing IPS-managed or Innovation Network Schools to attend for the next school year.
IPS said Howe won't be used next year and the building's future is still being determined.
Students at Manual will transition to Christel House Academy.
A selection process will be held for students at Emma Donnan for placement into Adelante Schools and Phalen Leadership Academies.
The three schools had been run by Charter Schools USA for about eight years.
Charter School USA has agreed to help with the transition.