Expansion plans on the horizon for Indianapolis charter school
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Eleven-hundred students attend the Julian Coleman K-8 school in the Martindale-Brightwood area.
That total is way over capacity, according to KIPP INDY Public Charter Schools. That acronym stands for Knowledge Is Power Program.
Andy Seibert, executive director of KIPP, said Wednesday that the charter schools provide on an intimate learning environment. “We believe deeply in individualized learning, so we have hundreds of students on a daily basis receiving one-on-one or two-on-one high-intensity tutoring.”
To maintain that quality of learning, Indianapolis Public Schools may transfer ownership of the school to KIPP in April. WISHTV.com first reported on the possible transfer on April 23 in a story shared by Chalkbeat Indiana.
Marc Ransford, a spokesman for IPS, contacted News 8 on Thursday after the story aired on WISH-TV. He said in an email to News 8, “The school would have to meet a number of contingencies before transfer, including but not limited to the school maintaining its Innovation Network status and certain enrollment thresholds.”
Voters approved a referendum in 2023 that will go toward fixing deferred maintenance issues such as the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system; doors; windows; and other structural problems. Another $10 million will pay for expanding the Coleman building.
Seibert said, “Everything from investing in some additional common spaces. so we don’t have five gym classes happening at the same time, to some additional cafeteria space.”
KIPP opened its first high school in 2019 and specifically catered to students in the Martindale-Brightwood community who may otherwise have had to travel longer distances to attend high school.
While there may be friction between some school districts and neighboring charter schools, Barato Britt, president of the Edna Martin Christian Center near the Coleman Academy, said Thursday that the KIPP-IPS partnership has strengthened over the years. “As much as we’re celebrating and the progress that we’re continuing to make and demonstrate a lifetime commitment to, this is bigger than KIPP. This is bigger than Edna Martin. This is a product of residents and stakeholders, IPS, everyone operating in good faith.”
Renovations on the Julian Coleman middle school are expected to begin in 2025 and take three or four years to finish.
This story was updated to clarify the transfer of the school building from IPS to KIPP is pending.