8/19/2005
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Mayor Peterson announces selection of three new charter schools
INDIANAPOLIS - Mayor Bart Peterson today announced the selection of the Challenge Foundation Academy, Herron High School and Recovery High School to receive charters for new schools. He will forward his recommendation of these schools to the City-County Council for review and ratification. Formal selection of the three new charter schools will bring the total number of Mayor-sponsored charter schools in Indianapolis to 18.
"The organizations who sponsor these schools continue to be top notch, to strive to meet specific unmet educational needs of our children, and are truly visionary in their approach to meeting those needs," said Mayor Peterson.
The three schools are scheduled to open in August 2006.
Herron High School will be a rigorous, college-preparatory liberal arts high school focused on a classical curriculum. The school is being developed by members of the downtown cultural community and will be located on the near north side of downtown, possibly in the Herron-Morton neighborhood on the campus of the former Herron School of Art. The school will replicate aspects of the educational model implemented at the Oaks Academy, a private Pre-K-8th grade school also located on the near north side of downtown. The school will place emphasis on civic responsibility and community service and will integrate character curriculum into all aspects of the educational program. In addition, Herron High School has partnered with many organizations within the downtown community to provide valuable educational and community-building experiences for the students. The academic program will incorporate the Trivium, a three-pronged liberal arts educational strategy focused on grammar, logic and rhetoric. Students will have the opportunity to participate in environmental science activities at the Nature Conservancy and in an artist mentoring program through the Harrison Center for the Arts. The school’s partnerships with community organizations are key to fulfilling the school’s mission of neighborhood revitalization and creating an environment of collaboration.
Herron High School will operate Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for 180 days per school year. Herron will serve 100 students in grade nine in year one, growing to 400 students in grades 9-12 by year four. The school will offer a summer program for students who have not mastered courses during the school year.
Recovery High School is a high school under development by Fairbanks Hospital, Inc. and will serve students who are recovering from alcoholism or drug addiction. Students who are in recovery will benefit from the opportunity to transition back into the community without having to return immediately to their old high schools, where the pressure to drink or do drugs may have originated. The school will use and build upon the educational model developed by Sobriety High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, incorporating Sobriety High’s restorative justice principles, continual learning plans, and flexible approach to curriculum development. Staff members at the school will be trained specifically to deal with recovering students and their unique challenges.
To foster personal relationships with the teachers and each other, students will be organized into learning communities of 6-18 students. Each learning community will be guided by a learning and recovery coach, a resource educator and volunteer instructional aides. Each student will develop a continuous learning plan with his or her learning and recovery coach and a family member. The continuous learning plans allow Recovery High School to tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of each individual student. In addition to classroom work, students will participate in internships designed to supplement academic coursework. Recovery High School students will have the opportunity to access academic courses (including online courses) offered by the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township, Ivy Tech State College and University of Indianapolis.
Recovery High School will open with 24 students in grades 9-12. The school will reach a maximum enrollment of 120 students in grades 9-12 in year six. The school will operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday for 193 days per school year. The school calendar will include two 17-day intensive sessions, one in the summer and one in the winter, designed to provide remediation, elective courses and flex credits for students.
The Challenge Foundation Academy’s mission is to offer students in the Meadows neighborhood a "first class education" with high academic standards and a commitment to engaging the whole family in a partnership for learning. The Academy will use the Core Knowledge Sequence, which is aligned with the Indiana State Academic Standards, for reading/language arts, history, and science courses. The Core Knowledge Sequence presents carefully ordered facts, historical figures, and concepts by grade level. In addition to Core Knowledge, the school will implement strategies such as Direct Instruction and Reading First specifically designed for students who are reading below grade level. For math, the Academy will use Saxon Math curriculum, which features continual review and practice of skills. Math classes will be accelerated one year so kindergarten students will complete the first grade math curriculum. The acceleration of the math program may allow advanced 8th graders to take Algebra II in 8th grade, preparing them for AP Calculus by 12th grade. The school will use the Character First! curriculum and all middle school students will be required to participate in community service projects.
The Challenge Foundation Academy is supported by the Challenge Foundation and will benefit from the Foundation’s financial resources and expertise in the Core Knowledge curriculum. The school plans to locate in the Meadows neighborhood near the Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School (which serves grades 7-12).
The Challenge Foundation Academy will serve 264 students in kindergarten through 5th grade in its first year. In year four, the school will reach maximum enrollment of 396 students in kindergarten through 8th grade. The school will operate from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday for 180 days per school year. Parents will have the option of using before and after school child care starting at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 5:30 p.m.
Each charter school application, including those of the schools selected, underwent an intensive review by the Mayor's charter schools staff, members of the Indianapolis Charter Schools Board and some of the nation's most experienced charter schools experts.
Charter schools are public schools that are freed from most of the regulations governing traditional schools. They control their own curriculum, staffing, organization and budget. In exchange for this freedom, they must meet the highest academic standards.
For the past several years, Mayor Peterson has been one of Indiana's most outspoken charter school supporters. The passage of Indiana's charter school law in 2001 made him the first and, thus far, only mayor in the nation to have the authority to charter schools. Twelve mayor-sponsored charter schools are currently in operation and three more are scheduled to open in the next year. The 21st Century Charter School at Fountain Square will open on September 6, 2005, and the Mozel Sanders Academy and the Indianapolis Lighthouse Charter School No. 2 will both open in fall 2006. For more information, go to /eGov/Mayor/Education/Charter/home.htm.
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