Next crop of Indianapolis charter schools could have familiar faces

Indianapolis’ next wave of charter schools could come largely from longtime educators and established networks—a sign that the city’s charter sector might be maturing.

Four schools have indicated to the Indianapolis mayor’s office that they’re interested in applying for charters. Three would replicate existing school models: Paramount School of Excellence, Herron High School and Purdue Polytechnic High School.

The fourth potential new school, a K-8 school on the southeast-side, comes from Mind Trust fellow Aleicha Ostler, the former principal of Indianapolis Public Schools’ Super School 19.

The interested schools bring backgrounds that include track records of success, years of education experience, access to deep resources, and support from politically influential players.

The familiar faces in this crop of charter school applicants suggest that Indiana’s 16-year-old charter scene is evolving, with more proven schools replicating across the city than in the past, when most schools were still new and untested.

The mayor’s office, which authorizes most of the city’s charter schools, appears to be looking increasingly to strong leaders with proven successes and intentionally targeted efforts—many of them already singled out and supported by the Mind Trust—in today’s competitive charter market.

To be sure, many new ideas are still coming to Indianapolis. This spring, the state charter school board is also considering an application for an arts and vocational charter school from a longtime Indianapolis police detective seeking to help children affected by crime and poverty.

The potential new charter schools would open in fall 2019 at the earliest.

For those going through the mayor’s office, the schools would still have to submit full applications for approval, a process that started last month with their letters of intent and continues through June with interviews and public hearings.

Replicating Herron and Purdue Polytechnic would expand public high school offerings following the IPS district's move to close and consolidate high schools next year. Their existing schools fall under the district’s umbrella as innovation schools, but it’s too early to know whether any potential new schools could follow suit.

Purdue Polytechnic, run in partnership with Purdue University, has been planning to open a network of schools, and head of school Scott Bess said this is the first step to start expansion plans. He hopes to open a second school on the north side of the county, to eventually enroll up to 600 students.

Purdue Polytechnic opened its first school last fall with 150 freshman students, with more demand than it was able to accommodate, Bess said. The high school uses a new project-based curriculum focused on science and math skills, with a goal of serving low-income students and students of color.

The first high school plans to move into the former P.R. Mallory factory on the east side if costly renovations can be worked out. Paramount could propose to open a middle school at the same location as a feeder to the first Purdue Polytechnic High School.

The project-based, hands-on philosophies of both Paramount and Purdue Polytechnic would make it “a natural fit,” Bess said.

“We felt there was strong synergy between their approach to STEM and our approach to STEM, so we thought the two models would serve each other well,” said Tommy Reddicks, Paramount’s executive director.

The existing east-side elementary Paramount School of Excellence uses a data-driven approach and is known for its urban farm. Paramount is working on opening a second school this fall, Reddicks said, also on the east side.

The highly sought-after Herron High School, one of the city’s older charter schools, might seek to open its third high school focused on liberal arts with a classical education approach. Its second school, Riverside High School, opened last fall with 140 freshmen students and plans to move to the former Heslar Naval Armory on the banks of the White River.

Herron did not list a potential location for a third high school, which could open in 2020 and eventually enroll up to 500 students, according to the letter of intent submitted to the city. Herron officials did not return messages seeking comment.

The Mind Trust, a local charter school incubator and education not-for-profit, has previously provided support to school leaders in all three of the networks seeking to replicate, in addition to Ostler as a current fellow.

The K-8 school that Ostler is interested in starting would open in the southeast-side neighborhood of Twin Aire. She wants to build off her experience at the nearby Super School 19, a magnet school incorporating physical movement into education.

She is using her two-year fellowship to develop a pitch for a school that would focus on design thinking, personalized learning, and postsecondary planning. Her concept comes from a concern that schools prepare students for tests, not careers in the real world.

“I don’t think as schools we’re really assisting with that problem,” Ostler said.

She noticed many students on the southeast-side were the first in their family to graduate from high school or go to college. For postsecondary planning, Invent Learning Hub will show students career options throughout the city, connect their passions and skills with careers, talk about how families can support students’ pathways, and follow up with students after they graduate from the K-8 school.

She also wants to dedicate a block of each day to design thinking, just like math and reading.

The Indiana Charter School Board is also considering a proposal from the HIM by HER Foundation, started by Indianapolis homicide detective Harry C. Dunn III. The not-for-profit’s name stands for Helping Improve Mankind by Healing Every Race, and it began as an effort to address the vocational, educational, and mentoring needs that Dunn saw young black men facing in particular.

The HIM By HER Collegiate School for the Arts would be run by Wanda Riesz, a former school principal and IPS administrator, according to the school’s application. It would look to fill the void left by the closure of the Broad Ripple High School’s performing arts magnet program at the end of this year. It also would look to provide alternative education to fit the individual needs of at-risk students such as those who might be pregnant, expelled from other schools, or going through juvenile court.

The school would leverage community partnerships and teach Spanish to all students.

Riesz did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The school will undergo interviews and public hearings before the board decides in May whether to approve it.

Chalkbeat is a not-for-profit news site covering educational change in public schools.