On the eve of learning which Indianapolis high schools could face closure, about 50 protesters rallied outside the Indianapolis Public Schools central office with a demand: Hold off.
Parents, teachers and community members gathered ahead of an IPS board meeting. The protest was organized by a loose coalition of groups including Concerned Clergy.
Superintendent Lewis Ferebee will announce Wednesday which three of the seven high schools the administration recommends closing. The board will vote on the final plan in September.
Chalkbeat spoke to several of the protesters about why they were there and what they hoped to accomplish.
Elaine Bultman
Indianapolis Education Association member, 27-year teaching veteran, former teacher at School 15.
“There are so many different plans that could be used with these schools to keep them open. They’re in the communities where people live. This is taking our kids away from public education and forcing them to leave the community. No one wins. Students are constantly being transferred here to there, teachers are being transferred here to there. We’re losing our home…(I want IPS) to slow down.”
Bultman said the district did not allow enough community input in the process. “Simply having community meetings (isn’t enough). The decisions have been made about which schools are closing. That’s not input from our community.”
Stardust A
Parent of a student at Crispus Attucks High School.
“It’s about privatization and taking funds away from the public … I’m all about accountability. When you put money into private hands, they’re not accountable to us. They don’t have to provide the same services. The money should go straight to the kids. (I hope) maybe that (the school board members) see some dissent and slow it down. The board needs to know that their constituents are paying attention.”
Muhammad Siddeeq
Former science teacher at Shortridge and John Marshall high schools.
Siddeeq said IPS is now struggling with high school enrollment because of its own mistakes.
“You created this situation. They bomb our school populations, and then say, ‘You know what, we don’t have enough students to go to school!’ We’re really being invaded. And then they come to us and say, ‘You have a choice.’ Well, yeah, we have a choice, after you already wiped out any way of us possibly resisting.”
“The main thing is to alert the public and to hopefully put in the conscience of the school board to take a second look at how they’re conducting themselves.”
Antonio Cardenas
Sophomore at Shortridge High School.
“It just breaks all of our hearts at Shortridge … A couple weeks before school let out, they were there talking to us, and they stopped taking questions from us after one of our kids said, ‘You’re trying to pack us into a can of sardines.’ They stopped the interview right there with the whole school and wouldn’t take any more questions. They refused to talk to our teachers afterward, and they just left out of nowhere.”
Cardenas said Shortridge is a successful school academically. “It’s growing really rapidly, but IPS isn’t looking at that. It’s looking at the student ratio to the building, but it’s not about that, it’s about how well we’re doing as a school.”
Michelle Sanders
Member of Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis from Purpose of Life Ministries.
“(There’s) a lack of communication and involvement of the community. … (We need) a new transition team of folks that have community voices and not just consultants to make the decisions on what to close if there are closures.”
Sanders said IPS can’t expect to be able to move students around the city easily. “Indianapolis is a large community that’s spread apart. You can’t necessarily just close half the high schools — you’re going to create transportation issues, you’re going to create cultural issues. It just creates a lot of different issues that I don’t think they’ve addressed.”