State Education Board To Hold Public Hearings For Gary, East Chicago Schools
The inside of Gary, IN\’s West Side Leadership Academy, one of the area\’s three public high schools. As the district begins a new school year, the state education board will hold hearing on a turnaround school in the district. (Rachel Morello/StateImpact Indiana)” credit=”
The Indiana State Board of Education will hold meetings for public comment on two schools located in northwest Indiana that have been chronically designated as failing.
The board is expected to decide the future of two turnaround schools, Beveridge Elementary School in Gary and Joseph L. Block Junior High in East Chicago soon.
No decisions will be made at these hearings, which are required by state law. In the future, the board could release the school from turnaround status, continue with current operator, assign a new operator or return the school to their home district.
The meetings, which will both take place at 6 p.m. at the respective schools, will be on Aug. 10 for Beverdige and Aug. 11 for Joseph L. Block.
As previously reported, school staff and community members are working hard to revamp schools in Gary Community School Corporation. It’s a district that has long been plagued with funding woes, low test scores and transportation issues.
At the beginning of the summer, the school district grappled with a $75 million budget deficit. The school board laid off 13 employees and explored running their own transportation system.
As the Chicago Tribune reported earlier this summer, employee paychecks were delayed due to lack of funding.
School Board President Antuwan Clemons, who heads the board’s budget/finance committee, said the missed pay period was due to cash flow problems. “We didn’t want to bounce any checks,” he said. The checks should be distributed Monday, he said.
The letter told employees the administration and Martin were working hard to avoid a reduction in force this year. However, on Tuesday, the school board laid off 13 employees, including eight secretaries, three information technology department employees, a public relations administrator and a business department assistant.
Clemons said more layoffs are coming. “We have to make sure we live within the means of our income,” he said. “Mr. Martin is making some serious recommendations.”
As the 2016-17 school year begins, we’ll keep an eye on both turnaround schools and the district’s funding situation in Gary.