4 Educators Awarded Fellowships To Fix Failing Indianapolis Schools

New curricula aimed at replacing three more failing Indianapolis schools were announced Tuesday as part of an ongoing program spearheaded by educational reform organization The Mind Trust.

Four educators will develop plans that could be picked by the Indianapolis Public Schools Board to reconstitute current neighborhood schools under their leadership and vision.

IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee said the “new direction” of the district includes creating quality schools regardless of how some may characterize them, such as a charter, magnet or traditional public schoolhouse.

“Schools in IPS will not just exist because they’ve always existed,” Ferebee said during the event at the WFYI studios. “We expect to have high performing schools in all of our neighborhoods. We expect to have several options for families to chose from.”

Last year Ferebee and Mayor Greg Ballard’s office succeeded in convincing lawmakers to pass a law that allows the district to create autonomous schools at low performing and underused buildings.

The law allows IPS to contract with a manager to run a school outside the constraints of a union contract. That means, the manger could pay teachers outside the normal IPS pay scale, offer more than 180 days of class instruction per year or extend the learning day.

Nine schools, or 15 percent of the IPS district, are expected to become these so-called “Innovation Network” schools during the next few years.

Last year, the Mind Trust announced its inaugural “Innovation School” fellows. As part of the program, fellows receive a two-year stipend, office space and other educational support to develop their school model.

This year’s fellows are:

• Sheila Dollaske, current principal of IPS’ Key Learning Community. She wants to create a 6-8 grade middle school connected to an Excel Center -- a school for adult dropouts -- that would benefit an entire neighborhood.
• Shanae Staples and Kevin Kubacki are founders of the Enlace Academy charter school that has shown success in teaching Latino English Language Learners. Staples would be the principal of the K-8 school with a blended learning curriculum.
• Mahmoud Sayani, who has operated schools in Kenya and is former executive officer for Focus Humanitarian Assistance Canada, wants to create a 6-12 school focusd on a STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, curriculum.

So far, one school is scheduled to open as a result of the fellowships.

Next school year, Francis Scott Key Elementary School 103 will become a Phalen Leadership Academy. The Phalen charter school company is the first outside group to be approved by the IPS Board -- though one board member voted against it and continues to question The Mind Trust program and the academic promises made by Phalen.

David Harris, The Mind Trust CEO, said the fellows picked have a track record of success. The contract between IPS and manager of a school would spell out academic and accountability measures.

“If they don’t hit the performance benchmarks that were set out in the contract then those schools will no longer be able to operate” he said. “Part of the deal, is this that this leaders are given the ability to innovate but are held to high levels of accountability.”

Contact WFYI education reporter Eric Weddle at eweddle@wfyi.org or call (317) 614-0470. Follow on Twitter: @ericweddle.