Meet Your New Boss: EdisonLearning, Gary's Turnaround School Operator

EdisonLearning

EdisonLearning, which IDOE intends to appoint as a turnaround school operator in Gary, is a New York-based private education firm.

Roosevelt Career & Technical Academy in Gary is now under new management: New York-based private education firm EdisonLearning.

State superintendent Tony Bennett announced the change in Gary this morning, opting to bring in the company — already contracted to work in schools from South Carolina to Washington state — to take over a school where 84.3 percent of students failed state standardized tests and 92.2 percent of sophomores failed End-of-Course Assessments.

In a statement, Bennett praised EdisonLearning’s “strong record of success.”

Bennett opted to bring in a “turnaround school operator” to intervene at Roosevelt, only one of the options at the state’s disposal for intervening in schools labeled as “failing” under Public Law 221 — Bennett could have opted to shut down the school, merge it with a better-performing school in the district, or revise the school’s improvement plans.

Bennett didn’t address his plans for the six Indianapolis public schools facing state intervention while in Gary, although introducing a school turnaround operator in Indianapolis is widely seen as the option the Indiana Department of Education is most likely to pursue.

The Indiana Board of Education has to okay the move to bring in EdisonLearning, and will vote on the issue at its Monday meeting.