Maybe you’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War. Maybe you recall when Dr. Strange tells Tony Stark, “We’re in the endgame now.” If that means nothing to you, perhaps you’ve lived a blessed life. Regardless, it’s what popped into my head when a recent rumor about IPS shrinking its boundaries to just Center Township turned into a real possibility when IPS presented the idea as a legitimate one during recent community meetings.

Or maybe the times call for a Marvel/Stranger Things mash-up with a line I’m not sure is ever uttered in either franchise: We’re in the upside down now. I guess what I’m trying to impress upon you, dear reader, is that there is no bingo card that has “IPS proposing new, smaller boundaries” on it in this calendar year or any other. But here we are. 

Why Is IPS Proposing Smaller Boundaries?

What started as merely a social media rumor quickly snowballed into something quite tangible. Turns out, the idea was discussed by members of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance (ILEA), even if Mike O’Connor, a consultant working with the ILEA, was quick to note it wasn’t being seriously considered by the group. 

It inevitably then rose to the fore at a meeting of the City-County Education Council earlier this month when O’Connor gave the council an update about the work of the ILEA. Hearing the idea led Councillor Dan Boots to call it “political suicide” among other choice things that put a fine point on the wildness of such a proposal. 

At that point it was all still rumors and hearsay in terms of how serious IPS was about the whole thing. But serious they are. Because just days after the City-County Education Council meeting the idea became a main topic of discussion at an IPS community meeting on November 11, where IPS Board President Angelia Moore told the gathering, “This is an option.” In fact, they showed the slide below. The red box indicates the “new boundaries” with everything in gray suddenly becoming part of other townships.  

Sometimes the simplest questions still need to be asked. Why? Given Boots’ assertion it would be “political suicide,” something I wholeheartedly agree with.

IPS says the idea is about “right-sizing” the district. To which I say: if you were serious about that, your chance was Rebuilding Stronger. They missed that opportunity, with all signs pointing to the decisions they made during that process actually endangering the district’s sustainability, in particular because of the enrollment declines it initiated.

Indeed, this proposal would be an astonishing admittance of Rebuilding Stronger’s failure given Broad Ripple Middle School, the much ballyhooed cornerstone of Rebuilding Stronger, is outside of IPS boundaries under this proposed redistricting.

I’m not saying “right-sizing” isn’t a real reason given the pressures the district is under. I just think it’s too simplistic of an explanation. There’s more there there. (Diagram that sentence why don’t you.)

They need a new referendum once the current one expires. Maybe that becomes easier to pass (and the district more financially sustainable) with a smaller footprint. Or so their thinking might go. 

I also think IPS is worried about the possibility of the ILEA recommending a transportation and facilities authority that brings all IPS and charter schools under a single, independent authority for those services. Maybe shrinking the district feels like a way to see if they can sidestep involvement in such an authority. But I doubt it.

The Possible Impact of Downsizing IPS Boundaries

The impact of shrinking IPS’ boundaries down to just Center Township would be nothing short of seismic. Consider this table of 30 schools that would be impacted (the right column indicates the township the school would find itself in if IPS shrunk its boundaries).

School Name	New Township Boundary It Would Be In
Anna Brochhausen Elementary School	Warren
Avondale Meadows Middle School	Washington
Broad Ripple Middle School	Washington
Carl Wilde Elementary School	Wayne
Center for Inquiry 84	Washington
Center for Inquiry 70	Washington
Charles W. Fairbanks Elementary School	Lawrence
Clarence Farrington Elementary School	Wayne
Cold Spring School	Wayne
Butler Lab School 55	Washington
Enlace Academy	Wayne
Ernie Pyle Elementary School	Wayne
George W. Julian Elementary School	Warren
George Washington High School	Wayne
James Russell Lowell Elementary School	Lawrence
James W. Riley Elementary School	Washington
Jonathan Jennings Elementary School	Pike
Lew Wallace Elementary School	Wayne
Meredith Nicholson Elementary School	Wayne
Merle Sidener Gifted Academy (until the school is moved to its new location at the site of the old Kindezi building)	Washington
Monarca Academy	Wayne
Northwest Middle School	Wayne
The PATH School	Wayne
PLA @103	Lawrence
PLA @ 93	Lawrence
Purdue Polytechnic High School North	Washington
Robert Lee Frost Elementary School	Lawrence
Rousseau McClellan Montessori School	Washington
Sankofa School of Success	Warren

Over 10,000 students attend those schools, most of which are direct-run IPS schools with a smattering of Innovation Network Schools.

As I noted, Broad Ripple would be outside the district. But other lauded district programs would suddenly be out too. Two different CFIs, a Montessori school, and George Washington High School, among others. 

It’s astonishing to me that this idea is under any consideration within IPS, serious or otherwise, of their own volition. Nobody asked for this. The possible ramifications feel endlessly thorny.

• Are other townships expected to incorporate those schools? Would they even want to?
• What happens to teacher contracts at those schools?
• Considering IPS spends considerably more per student than most surrounding townships, what would programming and staffing even look like at these schools?
• Would the affected Innovation Schools’ contracts with IPS be void or could they continue to operate as Innovation Schools outside of IPS boundaries?
• Will all those schools simply close and have their families absorbed by other schools/districts?

No easy answers here. What’s certain is the phenomenal disruption to be experienced by the teachers, students, and families at those 30-odd schools if this were to happen.

Can IPS Shrink Its Boundaries?

Maybe the most important question of all: Can IPS even do this? Put another way, do they have the authority to redraw their own boundaries, come what may? 

The simple answer is no. Not unilaterally. But there is a process they could undertake, which Chalkbeat Indiana outlined in a recent article. I’ll cover the basics here, but for the actual Indiana statutes governing this kind of thing, see here.

Essentially, IPS could craft a resolution with each township they’d be giving up land to, presumably voted on by each district’s board. That resolution can either allow for the township district to assume land and control over the schools in that zone. Or just the land, with the original district (IPS) retaining control over the schools (but not, unless I’m mistaken, responsibility for the actual facility the school is located in, which would go to the township no matter what).

As far as I can tell, the annexation provision in Indiana statute does not account for what would happen to Innovation Schools. It also allows for anyone who lives in the district that is shrinking (IPS) to submit a formal objection in court to stop the redrawing of district boundaries. 

Can of worms? Meet the opener.

Cats? Meet the open top of a bag.

Given the non-existent or tepid-at-best reactions from townships, the idea seems dead in the water. But in a wild year for education in Indianapolis, it seems smarter to err on the side of the famed poet Justin Bieber. Never say never.