November 27, 2019 Dear Director Betley and esteemed members of the Indiana Charter School Board: The southside community is imploring the Indiana Charter School Board to cautiously consider your decision to authorize charters to ReThink Forward Indiana and Noble Education Initiative for Emma Donnan Middle School and Emmerich Manual High School. The School Transition Taskforce was a failed process that resulted in the State Board of Education directing Charter Schools USA, a for-profit company, to pursue a charter for three schools, including Donnan and Manual. This was done in spite of the community’s and IPS’s request to delay the vote for 30 days to evaluate alternative options in partnership with IPS. It was also done in spite of grave concerns the community raised about CSUSA and the Transition Taskforce itself (see enclosures). As a community, we have worked since the Transition Taskforce began and continued our work after the Taskforce concluded to advocate for high-quality education and accountability for Emma Donnan Middle School and Emmerich Manual High School. We have outlined the key concerns from the community regarding Charter Schools USA and their nonprofit affiliates ReThink Forward and Noble Education Initiative below: Integrity of reporting and tracking • Homeschooling – CSUSA and its affiliates have failed to address that for every 50 graduates there are 36 students counted as leaving Manual High School to homeschool rather than as dropouts, which is 12 times the state average. If those students had been counted as dropouts, Manual’s graduation rates would have been 50 percent compared to the 78 percent reported. T.C. Howe had similarly alarming rates and CSUSA stands out in the state for blatant misrepresentation of student and graduation data. • The unethical exploitation of homeschool laws is just one example of poor integrity for reporting data and tracking information. During the School Transition Taskforce, the community was consistently faced with obstruction or obfuscation when requesting information from CSUSA. For example, we requested aggregated census track level data to better understand where students lived. CSUSA would not provide the information, so the IPS representative on the Taskforce provided it using shared data between CSUSA and IPS. Teacher and Staff Retention • IPS’s Renewal School Quality Review for Emma Donnan Elementary revealed poor staff retention with only 50% of staff retained last year and less than 10% total three-yearretention rate. • IPS’s Review validates ongoing community concerns with staff turnover at Manual High School as we have seen numerous administrators and community engagement liaisons leave the school. 1 • The exceptionally high number of unlicensed teachers, especially inexperienced teachers in programs like Teach for America and Teaching Fellows, is deeply concerning from a retention standpoint as well as for ensuring high-quality instruction. Community Accountability • CSUSA has not actively and consistently engaged the community prior to the Taskforce process or following the State Board of Education recommendations. • ReThink Forward and Noble Education Initiative have done no outreach into the community and have leadership who have ignored requests to engage in dialogue. Public Facilities • The community does not support any effort by CSUSA and its affiliates to access the public facilities using the $1 law. These buildings have not been vacant for any time and they have been used for classroom instruction. The only vacancy present in the facilities is due to CSUSA’s failure to successfully grow enrollment. • In addition, IPS has outstanding bonds on Manual High School (as well as T.C. Howe) and taxpayers do not support a for-profit company and its affiliated nonprofits seeking a public facility for $1 with tax payers supporting debt service payments under any circumstances. Long-term Sustainability • Pedagogy – Cambridge is not a well-respected program in the education community and it lacks recognition within the Indianapolis ecosystem and among parents generally. In a competitive educational landscape, this is not a sustainable choice to grow enrollment nor do we believe it is a high-quality, rigorous academic option for students. • Marketing and recruiting – lack of participation in Enroll Indy, the unified enrollment system for Marion County, and other mainstream recruitment opportunities like Showcase of Schools demonstrates a lack of knowledge about ways parents and students are choosing their schools and / or lack of commitment to proven recruitment methods. o Additionally, the recent decision by the IPS Administration and Board to not renew the Innovation agreement with CSUSA for Emma Donnan Elementary – a decision the community publicly supported – is profound. Donnan Elementary is the pipeline for Donnan Middle, which is the pipeline for Manual High School. These schools are already facing enrollment challenges (declining enrollment at the Elementary was one of many reasons cited by IPS for not renewing the agreement). This will exacerbate the issue further. • Financial sustainability – CSUSA has been operating with a larger budget than they would as an IPS school and will operate with even less than a traditional public school should they become a charter; however, this was never fully addressed during the Taskforce process, despite multiple requests. o Transportation, for example (in the Taskforce report), CSUSA has allocated $670 per student for transportation – 56% of what it currently receives as a turnaround academy. 2 The applicant’s vision for growing enrollment, a key aspect of financial sustainability, is very unconvincing in the charter applications. This is particularly salient for our group comprised of people living in the area who have either been alienated by CSUSA or are apathetic to what they believe is a failing school. Facility Usage - Manual and TC Howe have exceptionally high per student operational costs compared to their peer high schools due to low enrollment and large facilities. There have been no plans to address this issue made public other than inappropriately accessing the public facilities for $1. o • The Taskforce, a body biased by design to support CSUSA and its affiliates’ pursuit of a charter, still only offered its support for CSUSA to pursue charters, under the following conditions: 1. The charter school authorizer determines that each charter application demonstrates financial and operational sustainability. 2. The charter schools’ organizer(s) shall include, on its Board, a majority of directors who are parents/guardians of a current student or who reside in one of the zip codes in or adjacent to 46203 and 46201 – the areas in which the schools are located. The Indiana Charter School Board is an expert in evaluating the first condition outlined by the Taskforce, as this is something that is evaluated with every charter application. It our coalition’s position that they have failed to meet this condition based on the information we have available at this time. In addition, we believe they have also failed to meet the second condition to have a majority of directors who are parents / guardians of a current student or who reside in one of the zip codes in or adjacent to 46203 and 46201. The community requested that specific neighborhoods or census blocks be used rather than zip codes and that adjacent zip codes be removed, due to large coverage area of zip codes; however, this request was denied during the Taskforce process. We would like to request the Indiana Charter School Board evaluate whether CSUSA and its affiliates have satisfactorily met these conditions. The community has been constantly engaged with IPS and recently learned the following from the IPS Administration: • IPS is very appreciative of the ongoing willingness to partner in finding a strong solution and increasing quality options on the southside of Indy. • IPS will be ready to share publicly and talk at the State Board of Education meeting on December 4, 2019 about plans for Emma Donnan – to run a process whereby the community (parents, teachers, surrounding members) is offered the opportunity for agency and input in the future operation of the school. There are several possible Innovation partners who are interested and IPS will share feedback from engagements so far, and then begin introducing them to constituents soon. • IPS is deeply exploring details of a potential partner to operate Manual. In so doing, IPS would do their best to ensure stability for the current staff and students and would not displace students. Any arrangement would honor the legacy of the school to date. 3 With IPS being the property owner and IPS’s willingness to explore alternative options for both Emma Donnan Middle School and Manual High School, we ask that the Indiana Charter School Board open a dialogue with IPS before making their final decision. I am joined in this request by multiple southside neighborhoods in the immediate areas served by Emma Donnan and Emmerich Manual, as well as key community partners and the South Indy Quality of Life Plan, which represents eight southside neighborhoods. It is disappointing to residents that the Taskforce process failed and that we seem to be facing an uphill battle again due to the misinformation regarding possible options, people’s fear of school closure, and significant political influence wielded by CSUSA. In spite of this, we remain committed to continuing a dialogue and working diligently to keep high-quality education options available to the children and families in our community. Should the Indiana Charter School Board authorize a charter for Emma Donnan Middle School or Emmerich Manual High School, we request the following: • Explicit community engagement and accountability to the community, including stricter board requirements; • Enhanced oversight due to the past track record for inaccurate reporting and concerning practices as well as a lack of independence from CSUSA by the nonprofit affiliate applicants; • Prohibition from accessing the public facilities for $1 due to the lack of consistency with state law and harm to taxpayers. Thank you for your consideration of our concerns and requests. Our coalition is comprised of passionate parents, educators, community builders, and engaged citizens who all feel that our students and families deserve better. We believe in high-quality, equitable educational opportunities for southside families and beyond. We hope you will join us as we fight for these kids to have the best education possible. Sincerely, Southside Education Community Coalition Enclosures: Southside Education Community Coalition Member Signatures Statement to School Transition Taskforce via email attachment Statement to State Board of Education via email attachment School Transition Taskforce Report via email attachment Summary of events via email attachment 4 Southside Education Community Coalition ___________________________________ Aryn Schounce Southside Community Representative School Transition Taskforce ___________________________________ Councillor – Elect Kristin Jones Councillor – Elect, District 16 Indianapolis City-County Council ___________________________________ Michelle Strahl-Salines Director SoIndy Quality of Life Plan ___________________________________ Terri Garcia Executive Director Southeast Community Services ___________________________________ Erin Brown Co-chair, Education Committee Garfield Park Neighbors Association ___________________________________ Representative Justin Moed State Representative, District 97 Indiana House of Representatives ___________________________________ Councillor Frank Mascari Councillor, District 21 Indianapolis City-County Council ___________________________________ Bryan Hannon Chair, Advisory Board SoIndy Quality of Life Plan ___________________________________ Kelli Mirgeaux President Southeast Neighborhood Development ___________________________________ Ed Mahern Co-chair, Education Committee Garfield Park Neighbors Association 5 Southside Education Community Coalition ___________________________________ Cheryl Dillenback President Garfield Park Neighbors Association ___________________________________ Laura Giffel President Bates-Hendricks Neighborhood Association ___________________________________ Judith Essex President Old Southside Neighborhood Association ___________________________________ Beth Whitaker Southside Community Organizer ___________________________________ Glenn Blackwood Past President Fletcher Place Neighborhood Association ___________________________________ Bernie Price President Bean Creek Neighborhood Association ___________________________________ Ike McCoy President Carson Heights Neighborhood Association ___________________________________ Laura Piercefield President South Village Neighborhood Association ___________________________________ Eamonn Brandon Southside Community Organizer 6