Next month, in October, we will get further information and have discussion on the biggest steps toward school ‘autonomy’ yet. District schools, next year, will be encouraged to move into an Autonomous status (principals will control their own budgets) and then to move toward Innovation School status. As an “Innovation” school the school will have obtained a 501 C-3 (non-profit) status. This means that they will operate entirely independently from the district, have their own board, employ ther own teachers. Once innovation status is obtained, the Mind Trust will give the school $50k.
Here are screenshots, showing the details:
This is a three-tiered system:
Schools will be able to move from Traditional > Autonomous > Innovation status in the following manner:
More information on the timeline and process:
The community is largely unaware of this plan at this point in time.
Help spread the word: the above are slides from public documents concerning this plan, obtained from IPS board docs, from meeting held September 16, 2015 at Broad Ripple High School: http://www.boarddocs.com/in/indps/Board.nsf/Public Share this blog, or share the link…but the community should be informed of this process so that they can engage.
**UPDATE** I made corrections to some of the language in the original blog. I was mistakenly under the impression that this would be voted on by the board next month. I was informed that this would not require a board vote…because it is borne out of the strategic plan.
These views are my own and are not affiliated with the IPS district or board in any way.
Contact me: gayle_cosby@yahoo.com