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Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) | |
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Location | |
United States | |
District information | |
Grades | K–12 |
Established | 1853 |
Superintendent | Alessia Johnson (elected in June of 2019) |
Students and staff | |
Students | 31,885 [1] |
Teachers | 2,579 |
Staff | 4,090 |
Athletic conference | IPS Conference Pioneer Conference |
District mascot | |
Other information | |
High School Graduation Rate (Class of 2016) | 76.9% [1] |
High School Graduates (Class of 2016) | 869 |
Website | www |
Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is the largest school district in Indianapolis, and the second largest school district in the state of Indiana as of 2021, behind Fort Wayne Community Schools. [2] The district's headquarters are in the John Morton-Finney Center for Educational Services. [3]
The district's official name is the School City of Indianapolis, and it is governed by a seven-member Board of School Commissioners. It generally serves Indianapolis' closest-in neighborhoods—essentially, Center Township and a few portions of the surrounding townships. Indianapolis Public Schools is the only school corporation in central Indiana to offer choice programs at no cost to students[ citation needed ].
The Indianapolis Public Schools district operates a number of public schools that are significant to the history of both Indianapolis and Indiana. In particular, Indianapolis Public Schools operates Shortridge High School, the first public high school in Indiana; Arsenal Technical High School, a multi-building campus located on the grounds of a former U.S. Civil War Arsenal; and Crispus Attucks High School, the first public high school in Indiana to serve black students in compliance with school segregation.
The state of Indiana was admitted to the Union in 1816, with Indianapolis receiving its charter in 1847. That same year, the people of Indiana voted in favor of public schools, in part due to efforts by Indiana citizens; one of these citizens includes Caleb Mills, for whom the current Shortridge High School auditorium is named. As a result of the referendum, a tax levy of 12½ cents per $100 of assessed valuation of property tax was established.
In 1853, Indianapolis incorporated its school system. A few years later, however, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in an 1858 decision that it was unconstitutional for cities and towns to levy taxes in support of public schools. As a result, all public schools were closed and rented to teachers, although many reopened in 1860.
From 1864 to 1916, three high schools opened under the school district. The first was Indianapolis High School (later renamed Shortridge High School in 1885) in 1864, as the city's first public high school. The school opened in the Marion County Seminary Building, although it was later moved to its present location. The second school was Manual Training High School, later to be known as Emmerich Manual High School, and it was opened in 1895. In 1916, Arsenal Technical Schools, which had opened four years earlier on the grounds of a former U.S. Civil War Arsenal, was incorporated into Indianapolis Public Schools and became Arsenal Technical High School.
The first wave of expansion came during the early part of the 20th century, the city of Indianapolis expanded as it annexed nearby towns such as Broad Ripple. In unison, Indianapolis Public Schools underwent an expansion of its school boundaries, and opened new schools such as Thomas Carr Howe and George Washington high schools. Indianapolis Public Schools also opened an all African-American high school known as Crispus Attucks High School; it was the only African-American high school in Indiana at the time.
The next wave of expansion came during the 1950s and early 1960s, when unprecedented enrollment levels occurred. As a result, three high schools were constructed in a period of seven years: Arlington High School in 1961, Northwest High School in 1963, and John Marshall High School in 1968 (which currently operates as a middle school).
The movement of Caucasian citizens outside central Indianapolis at the time resulted in a decline of enrollment and a change in racial composition in schools such as Broad Ripple High School, which went from having virtually no black students in 1967 to becoming 67% African-American by 1975[ citation needed ]. At the same time, institutional racial segregation was coming to light in Indianapolis as a result of Civil Rights reformation. U.S. District Judge S. Hugh Dillin issued a ruling in 1971 which found the district guilty of de jure racial segregation.
Beginning in 1973, due to federal court mandates, some 7,000 African-American students began to be bused from the Indianapolis Public Schools district to neighboring township school corporations within Marion County. These townships included Decatur, Franklin, Perry, Warren, Wayne, and Lawrence townships. This practice continued on until 1998, when an agreement was reached between IPS and the United States Department of Justice to phase out inter-district, one-way busing. By 2005, the six township school districts no longer received any new IPS students. [4]
The population of Indianapolis continued to become less concentrated within IPS district boundaries. As a result, between 1971 and 2005, the district lost nearly 70,000 students, and closed some 100 schools[ citation needed ].
Harry E. Wood High School closed in 1978. Shortridge High School closed in 1981, and reopened as a middle school in the late 2000s, and now serves as a traditional high school. John Marshall High School closed in 1987 after just eighteen years of service. It later reopened as a middle school in 1993, and in 2008 was converted a high school before returning as a middle school in 2016. Crispus Attucks High School closed in 1986, but reopened as a middle school. George Washington High School and Thomas Carr Howe High School both closed in 1995, which both reopened their doors in 2001.
This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2017) |
Throughout the 1990s, worsening budgets contributed to problems common to inner city school districts. While the city had a graduation rate higher than the national average in the 1950s, it now had the worst dropout rates in the state[ citation needed ]. Test scores declined precipitously.
Citizens' task forces studied how to combat school violence, low academic achievement, and persistent racial segregation. In 1992, then-superintendent Shirl Gilbert initiated a "Select Schools" plan, allowing parents the option of selecting which school they wanted their child to attend within the district. While theoretically promising, in practice the plan did not lead to general improvements.
Gilbert was removed from his post by the school board in 1994 and replaced with Esperanza Zendejas in 1995. Zendejas pursued an aggressive program of reform and improvement, removing several administrators from their positions and attempting to implement performance standards upon remaining school administrators. After repeated conflicts with administrators, school board members, and parents, Zendejas resigned from her post in 1997.
The succeeding superintendent was Duncan N.P. "Pat" Pritchett, who had occupied the superintendent's seat in a locum tenens capacity between Gilbert and Zendejas. Under both Gilbert and Zendejas, Pritchett had been an assistant superintendent for facilities management. Under Pritchett, the district saw eight years of steady academic improvement thanks to a number of initiatives, including a partnership with the National Urban Alliance to strengthen literacy and a math/science initiative that set algebra as the eighth-grade gateway math course. Pritchett also brought the concept and planning of the Small Schools Initiative to the district's traditional comprehensive high schools, turning five campuses into 24 schools within a school.
Upon Pritchett's retirement in 2005, the post was offered to and accepted by Eugene G. White, who had been serving as superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township in Marion County. White began to implement several reforms, including re-establishing high school programs at two historic schools (Crispus Attucks and Shortridge) as academies devoted to medicine and law/government, respectively. In August 2006, White informed IPS middle school principals that their continued employment depended upon improvement in discipline and test scores. [5]
As of 2006, approximately 36,000 students were in IPS. Many of the facilities in IPS were outdated and in need of renovation, with some facilities being over 70 years old. In 2001, the IPS Board of School Commissioners approved an $832 million plan to upgrade each of the district's 79 schools, in some cases totally replacing outdated buildings with new facilities. The plan has been completed within the last few years.[ when? ]
The Indianapolis Public Schools district lost some schools to outside groups for the improvement of academic and overall performance in the 2000s. A charter management system such Charter Schools USA took over three locations[ when? ] and currently operates Emma Donnan Middle School, Emmerich Manual High School, and Thomas Carr Howe Community High School. In 2012, the state took over Arlington in 2012, after six straight years of “F” grades. Tindley Accelerated Schools, a local nonprofit charter school operator then known as Ed Power, was hired to run Arlington. [6] In 2015, Indianapolis Public Schools retook control of the school after Tindley Accelerated Schools announced in 2014 that it could no longer afford to run the school, [7] and in 2015 Arlington High School was returned to Indianapolis Public Schools control under a State Board ruling. [8]
IPS includes all of Center Township and sections of these townships: Decatur, Lawrence, Perry, Pike, Warren, Washington, and Wayne. All of IPS is within the balance of Indianapolis. [9]
As of the 2018–19 school year, Indianapolis Public Schools maintains four public high schools. They are as follows:
Official Name | Nickname | Choice Programming Offered? |
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Arsenal Technical High School | Tech | Yes |
Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School | Attucks | Yes |
George Washington Community High School | Washington | Yes |
Shortridge IB High School | Shortridge | Yes |
Christel House Watanabe Manual High School | Christel | Yes |
Official Name | Nickname | Choice Programming Offered? | All-Choice School |
---|---|---|---|
Arlington High School | Arlington | No | - |
Broad Ripple Magnet High School for the Arts and Humanities | Broad Ripple | Yes | Yes |
Northwest High School | Northwest | No | - |
In an effort to remake its high school programs and address declining enrollment that has left its high school buildings two-thirds empty, the district in early 2017 announced plans to close Broad Ripple High School, Arlington High School, and Northwest High School. The plan proved controversial by students, teachers, and alumni of these three schools, especially among the Broad Ripple High School community. That same year, a September vote by the Indianapolis Public Schools board that same year finalized in the plans to close these three high schools by the end of the 2017–18 school year. [10] In June 2018, the three high schools all graduated their final classes. [11]
Indianapolis Public Schools plans to move to an all-choice high school model at the remaining four high schools: Arsenal Technical High School, Crispus Attucks High School, George Washington High School, and Shortridge High School. Under this high school model, students can choose their school of attendance based on personal preference, and not geographic location.
John Morton-Finney was an American civil rights activist, lawyer, and educator who earned eleven academic degrees, including five law degrees. He spent most of his career as an educator and lawyer after serving from 1911 to 1914 in the U.S. Army as a member of the 24th Infantry Regiment, better known as the Buffalo soldiers, and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I. Morton-Finney taught languages at Fisk University in Tennessee and at Lincoln University in Missouri, before moving to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he taught in the Indianapolis Public Schools for forty-seven years. Morton-Finney was a member of the original faculty at Indianapolis's Crispus Attucks High School when it opened in 1927 and later became head of its foreign language department. He also taught at Shortridge High School and at other IPS schools. Morton-Finney was admitted as a member of the Bar of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1935, as a member of the Bar of the U.S. District Court in 1941, and was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972.
The Fort Wayne Community Schools (FWCS) corporation is the Fort Wayne, Indiana area public school district, and is the largest in Indiana. The second largest is the Indianapolis Public Schools. It operates five high schools, ten middle schools, one intermediate school and over thirty elementary schools, serving 30,992 students in 2012-2013. FWCS's current superintendent is Dr. Mark Daniel. FWCS is divided into several departments, including Technology, Transportation, Academic Services, Continuing Education, Nutrition Services, and Public Affairs.
Broad Ripple Magnet High School for the Arts & Humanities, established in 1886, was a magnet school of the Indianapolis Public Schools. It was closed as a public high school in 2018, but continued to be used as both an administrative building and a host for a Purdue University charter school. The building is planned to reopen again for the 2024-25 school year as the new public Broad Ripple Middle School.
Crispus Attucks High School is a public high school of Indianapolis Public Schools in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. Its namesake, Crispus Attucks, was an African American patriot killed during the Boston Massacre. The school was built northwest of downtown Indianapolis near Indiana Avenue and opened on September 12, 1927, when it was the only public high school in the city designated specifically for African Americans.
Shortridge High School is a public high school located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Shortridge is the home of the International Baccalaureate and arts and humanities programs of the Indianapolis Public Schools district (IPS). Originally known as Indianapolis High School, it opened in 1864 and is Indiana's oldest free public high school. New Albany High School (1853) was Indiana's first public high school, but was not initially free.
Arlington High School was a comprehensive public high school located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It closed in 2018 but reopened in 2019 as Arlington Middle School.
Broad Ripple Village is one of seven areas designated as cultural districts in Indianapolis, Indiana. Located in Washington Township, Marion County, Indiana, about six miles north of downtown Indianapolis, Broad Ripple was first platted in 1837, became incorporated as the Town of Broad Ripple in 1894, and was annexed to the City of Indianapolis in 1922.
The Indianapolis Public Schools Athletic Conference was an athletic conference consisting of high schools in the Indianapolis Public Schools district. The demise of the conference came in 2018, as four of the seven remaining schools closed in a span of two years, leaving only three schools left, one of which (Howe) is a charter school, and another (Manual) under state control. Instead, those two schools joined the Greater Indianapolis Conference, leaving George Washington as an independent.
The Pioneer Conference is an IHSAA-sanctioned athletic conference formed in 2009. It is made up of ten small private, military, laboratory, and/or charter schools from Delaware, Hamilton, Johnson, Madison, Marion, and Wayne counties. All schools are Class 1A or 2A IHSAA members, aside from the much larger Indianapolis Shortridge Charter School, which is a 4A member.
Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) is a for-profit education management organization in the United States. It operates eighty-seven schools in seven states including sixty one charter schools in Florida. In 2019, Charter Schools USA managed charter schools enrolling approximately 70,000 students on a vendor operated school basis.
Abraham Crum Shortridge was an American educator who was superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools and the second president of Purdue University.
Ray Province Crowe was a basketball coach, educator, school administrator, and Republican politician in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the head basketball coach of Crispus Attucks High School from 1950 to 1957, after which he served another decade as the school's athletic director. His teams won the Indiana state basketball championship in 1955 and 1956, becoming the first all-black school to win a state championship in the country, and the first Indianapolis team to win the Hoosier state title. Crowe coached numerous Indiana All-Star players, including Oscar Robertson, Hallie Bryant, and Willie Meriweather, and was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968.
Anna Margaret Ross Alexander (1913–1995) was a philanthropist, who organized the first mental health fund drive in Marion County, Indiana. She was elected to the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners in 1966 during the desegregation and integration period. Under her administration as president in 1970, Indianapolis developed their desegregation plan. She was honored as Woman of the Year in 1970 by Theta Sigma Phi for her service in implementing integration and for being the only woman to have served on the board. She also served on the Tax Review Board and Historic Landmarks Foundation. She had a lifelong commitment to education and has had numerous awards named in her honor.
Edwin Arthur Gibson was an American architect active in Indianapolis, Indiana from 1946 to 2002. His career was one of many firsts. Gibson was the first registered African American architect in the State of Indiana, first African-American architect to be appointed Indiana's State Architect, and first African-American architect in Indiana to own his own firm. His long career included work in both the public and private sector. Gibson overcame many obstacles to become successful and was generous in offering advice and helping younger architects achieve similar success.
Tee Pee Restaurant was a drive-in restaurant in Indianapolis, Indiana, that began business in 1932. In 1939, the original building on Fall Creek Boulevard was replaced with one having a central stuccoed teepee-shaped section with identical flanking wings. A cantilevered canopy extended around the building. Additions were made to the wings in 1952.
Washington Street–Monument Circle Historic District is a national historic district located at Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, covering the first two blocks of East and West Washington and Market streets, the south side of the 100 block of East Ohio Street, Monument Circle, the first block of North and South Meridian Street, the first two blocks of North Pennsylvania Street, the west side of the first two blocks of North Delaware Street, the east side of the first block of North Capitol Avenue, and the first block of North Illinois Street. In total, the district encompasses 40 contributing buildings and 2 contributing structures in the central business district of Indianapolis centered on Monument Circle. It developed between about 1852 and 1946, and includes representative examples of Italianate, Greek Revival, and Art Deco style architecture.
Indiana has some of the most segregated schools in the United States. Despite laws demanding school integration since 1949, a 2017 study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project and Indiana University found that Indiana still has significant segregation in its classrooms.
Crispus Attucks Museum is a museum inside Crispus Attucks High School located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The museum is operated by the Indianapolis Public School (IPS) system and features exhibitions on local, state, national, and international African American history.
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