This story is a continuation of the unfolding saga around the physical location of Girls in Stem Academy, a new school operated by Paramount Schools of Excellence. For Part 1, read: “A Zoning Fight to Reinforce the Glass Ceiling.”

The zoning hearing to decide if Girls in Stem Academy can operate in the old Witherspoon Presbyterian building in Washington Township took place February 29.

The short of it? The rezoning was approved, paving the (still possibly winding) way for Girls in Stem Academy to occupy the building. The long of it? More complex. We unpack how the hearing went down and what’s coming next.

Setting the Scene

Give or take 150 people packed the room at the zoning hearing in the city-county building downtown. About 100 showed up in purple shirts to support Girls in Stem Academy. The fifty or so others were in red for Washington Township.

If you’ve ever seen Suits (the best lawyer drama ever made), you’re most of the way to imagining the proceedings. Each side got 15 minutes to present their argument. Petitioner (Paramount Schools of Excellence) first, opposition (Washington Township) second. After that, the chance for rebuttal, and a final response from opposition. Sprinkled in between, comments from supporters on each side.

(Unlike public comment at a school board meeting, a pre-selected speaker short-list gets sworn in rather than anyone being able to sign up ahead of time to offer thoughts on either side.)

Here’s the general arc of things.

Paramount Schools of Excellence – The Petitioner

The issue at hand was whether or not the 10.13 acres of Witherspoon Presbyterian’s former church property could be rezoned from SU-1 (religious use district) to SU-2 (school).

(You can spend an hour or a day or a year sinking into the interminable yet fascinating rabbit hole of the Marion County municipal codes website. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

The lawyer for the petitioner (Brian Tuohy, who, let’s be honest, has one of those last names that at first glance looks unpronounceable yet reveals itself as intuitive the moment you start to say it) offered this early tidbit: Washington Township purportedly opposes the rezoning because of traffic and land use, but if the proposed school was Montessori or a Catholic school, would they oppose it then? Good question, Brian. My guess is no.  They oppose it because the new school is a charter school (write that down, this is going to be relevant later).

(Charter schools are public schools by the way, just like how Bernese mountain dogs and Alsatians are different breeds yet still dogs.)

Washington Township cannot countenance the arrival of a charter school in their domain (let alone one whose academic outcomes are vastly superior).

Another important tidbit is that Witherspoon Presbyterian supports the school operating in the building. Their lead pastor is on record in support of the educational model and track record offered by Paramount Schools of Excellence. In fact, he was scheduled to deliver remarks at the hearing, though a surrogate who attends his church delivered his remarks in his stead as he had a conflict.

Here’s what was said on behalf of Pastor Winterbourne Harrison-Jones: “While there are many reasons why Witherspoon supports the rezoning, there are also historical logistical facts. Our vibrant church community attracts many congregants and visitors for regular church services and events. There has never been a traffic issue with evening church services, weekday workshops, Sunday services, church and community celebrations, and other functions during the weekday.”

Tuohy made other points, all of them good. The sanctuary (which holds up to 450 people) will be the cafeteria. The building already has many classrooms. The facility is more than adequate to hold Paramount’s projected 300 students at max enrollment. In addition, Paramount procured an independent traffic study, even though it wasn’t necessary (it found morning and afternoon drop offs, by far the busiest traffic times at a school, won’t affect traffic). And, while it is not required, Paramount has already committed to installing more lanes for traffic. If the real issue is traffic and land use, there’s not much case left. But everyone gets their day in court, right?

Washington Township – The Opposition

Jonathan Hughes was the attorney for Washington Township. He brought a slideshow with three pillars of concern. (Note that I’m pulling the quibble titles and bullet points verbatim from the slides, so, yes, there’s a typo or two; as I once told a colleague while looking at a pizza place’s takeout menu, “There’s mistakes in here!”).

Quibble 1: “Single Gendered Schools Have Not Worked“

When I saw this, I broke out laughing. Why? Because the evidence was entirely lazy, grounded purely in the fact that Tindley Accelerated Schools closed its single-gendered schools in 2018 as a means of network consolidation (Tindley continues to operate mixed-gender schools). He offered one local example that has no bearing on Paramount or its proposed school as a leading reason to deny rezoning? I know 15 minutes is not much time. But this is phoning it in. Do they know single-gender schools have been around for a really long time in countries around the world? And there’s a lot of research on them? For instance, fifteen seconds on Google unearthed a study from Harvard’s Kennedy School that found single-gender schools improve math performance for girls. I could pull in more but, well, I guess being lazy is fine.

Quibble 2: “Safety Considerations“

Key bullet points from this concern include “Needs Turn Lanes” and “Needs traffic signal.” (Come on, either capitalize each word or just the first word. Choose a grammatical lane, you know?) Well, Paramount has agreed to add turn lanes. And sure, it feels like a no-brainer to add a traffic signal. That would be safer. Last I checked, those are pretty easy to add. That’s not so much a reason to oppose as an action item to add to Paramount’s pre-opening checklist.

Quibble 3: “Lack of Transparency“

This is the concern I’m both most sympathetic to and yet find to be just as insubstantial as the others. I’m sympathetic because I’m human and know what it’s like to have my toes stepped on (or at least to feel like I had my toes stepped on). It’s insubstantial because, well, I don’t think there’s anything nefarious going on and sometimes when someone cries about a lack of transparency what they really mean is there is absolutely no amount of communication you could have done to appease them because they’re diametrically opposed.

One bullet in this slide noted that Paramount’s authorizer for the school is Trine University, rather than someone local to Indianapolis. They also noted that Paramount held its first public hearing for the school in Pike Township (back before Paramount secured the Witherspoon Presbyterian building). And while Paramount representatives attended the Highland-Kessler Civic League meeting in January, they did not feel their concerns were addressed.

Again, I’m sympathetic. But I don’t buy all this as meaningful. First, I just don’t think Paramount has been non-transparent, dodgy, or suspect. Their path to opening the school has been a bit winding, that’s true. I don’t think it shows mal intent.

Second, I said in the first story on this drama that questions of schooling and education should come back to what is best for kids. So part of why the opposition is not convincing to me is that none of their arguments offer a shred of evidence that this new school will depreciate educational opportunities for kids. In fact, it’s pretty clear that opportunities will improve for kids in Washington Township the moment Girls in Stem Academy opens its doors.

Aside from those main quibbles, Jonathan at one point mentioned a concern about the potential closure/failure of the school. He asked the audience to consider, “What if the building becomes abandoned again?” I had to laugh here. (Really, you should attend these public meetings, there’s more humor than you’d think.) The reality is the building is abandoned right now. And someone from the Highland-Kessler Civic League (a key Washington Township supporter who spoke at the hearing) was recently quoted in IndyStar as saying, “Highland-Kessler would probably oppose any change use of that property, whether it was residential or commercial.” So if they had their way, this building would be abandoned in perpetuity, a once-proud landmark left to fall into disrepair and blight.

They’re not proposing a strip club or a dispensary. It’s a school for goodness’ sake. And likely a much better one than the other schools in that area. (If we’re arguing on the merits, I really cannot overemphasize the academic angle here.)

Decision Time – The Hearing Examiner

I gave the game away at the top. The rezoning got approved. But it’s instructive to see the reasons as to why per the hearing examiner. Their approval boiled down to this:

1. The land use is appropriate. It’s a residential area. Schools tend to be in residential areas. Paramount is complying with what the Department of Public Works is recommending for road improvements.
2. The city did not require Paramount to do a traffic study. They did it anyway. And the firm they used is reputable. The study found no cause for concern.
3. Whether or not charter schools are good or bad is irrelevant to the rezoning request. All that matters is whether the land is appropriate for use as a school. If it passes that test, it’s approved. And it does.

After offering these reasons, the hearing examiner noted this: no matter the recommendation, they expected the decision would be appealed. Guess what? Washington Township’s Assistant Superintendent went on record immediately after the hearing to indicate they plan to appeal. I guess you’re in for a part three somewhere down the road.

Closing Thought

Brian of the intuitively pronounceable last name made this point during his rebuttal: Washington Township opposes the new school, not on the merits of the land use, but simply because they oppose the new school. Because it’s a charter school (I told you those notes would come in handy). If this were Suits (I so wish I lived in that show), I’m pretty sure Washington Township’s arguments at the zoning hearing would get tossed out of court for being specious.

So, until we meet again for the inevitable part three of this story, let me leave you with a question. What kind of district could Washington Township be if it spent as much energy/funds improving academic outcomes for students of color and low-income students as it does fighting nothing-burger zoning issues? If Suits taught me anything, it’s that lawyers don’t come free.

*Note: This piece was updated to reflect that Paramount was in attendance at the Highland-Kessler Civic League’s January, 2024 meeting.