Indianapolis Public Schools makes former Susan Roll Leach School 68 building available for $1

Indianapolis Public Schools has made the former Susan Leach School 68 building in the near eastside neighborhood available to interested charter schools or other educational institutions for $1.

The school board voted on Thursday to list the building as available for the purchase or lease price of $1 in accordance with a controversial state law requiring districts to make unused buildings available to charter schools. The move marks the end of its most recent uses in the district as storage space and winter shelter.

The vote comes as a state-mandated group considers which recommendations to make to state lawmakers to improve a fractured school system. One of the group’s tasks: to suggest how to use facilities more efficiently across IPS — which has shuttered schools and where enrollment has steadily declined — and charter schools, which routinely open and close in the city and struggle to find buildings.

A 2020 building study commissioned by the district concluded that the brick building — built in 1938 — had the lowest overall facility quality in the district, with a rating of 50. Buildings with ratings in the 60s were considered poor, while those with ratings below 60 were considered unsatisfactory.

IPS closed the school in the late 2000s after years of declining enrollment. The district leased the facility to the Indiana Juvenile Detention Center from 2015 to 2019 to operate Marion Academy, a high school for students in juvenile detention.

In 2021, the district began partnering with the city to use the space as winter shelter for families experiencing homelessness.

If no educational entity is interested in the property, the district can sell it without the $1 restriction.

Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.