These IPS schools could soon get upgrades to classrooms, gyms, air conditioning

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat Indiana.

Indianapolis Public Schools plans to use up to $95 million to upgrade athletic facilities, air conditioning units and special education classrooms, and address other facility needs at over two dozen schools.

The projects, which IPS officials unveiled Tuesday night, are part of more than $1 billion in deferred maintenance needs that the district identified in a 2020 facilities review. The majority of the projects would be completed by fall of 2024 or spring of 2025, IPS Chief Operations Officer Bill Murphy said. A bond repaid over 19 years would fund the improvements, which would not require IPS to seek new tax revenue.

The projects still need various approvals from the school board, which could approve them in November after completing public hearings required by state law.

Major high school investments would include:

Arlington Middle School, Emmerich Manual High School (which houses a Christel House charter school campus), and Northwest Middle School will also receive improvements to school theaters.

Meredith Nicholson School 70 would also receive roofing and wall improvements, as well as fire alarm upgrades, a new water heater, and upgrades to plumbing fixtures and exterior windows.

The former Francis W. Parker Montessori School 56 building, which closed this year, would also receive improvements to its foundation as part of a historic preservation project. The district is exploring how to renovate and repurpose the building.

William Penn School 49 and James Russell Lowell School 51 would receive new water heaters.

The following schools would also receive fire alarm upgrades:

• Anna Brochhausen School 88.
• Merle Sidener Academy for High Ability Students.
• School 49.
• Arlington Woods School 99, which houses the Sankofa School of Success in the IPS Innovation Network.
• Theodore Potter School 74.
• Clarence Farrington School 61.
• George H. Fisher School 93.
• School 51.

The following schools would also receive elevator replacements or repairs:

• George Washington High School.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson School 58.
• KIPP Indy College Prep Middle School, an IPS Innovation Network school.
• Shortridge High School.
• Phalen Leadership Academy at Louis B. Russell School 48.
• Arsenal Tech.
• Center for Inquiry School 84.
• The PATH School at Stephen Foster School 67, an IPS Innovation Network school.
• Robert Lee Frost School 106.
• James Whitcomb Riley School 43.
• Crispus Attucks High School.
• Edison School of the Arts.
• Christel House schools at Emmerich Manual High School, an IPS Innovation Network school.
• Cold Spring School.
• Phalen Leadership Academy at Francis Scott Key School 103, an IPS Innovation Network school.
• Center for Inquiry School 27.

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