The Truth Behind The Project School Closing: The Indiana Corporate School Complex
Our Daily Expedience
(Below is Doug Martin’s in-depth look into the corporate forces in Indianapolis working to keep true community-led charter schools from operating. Please sign the petition to “Save The Project School.”)
On July 17, Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard announced he was closing The Project School, one of the few community-led charter schools in Indiana and the 2012 winner of NUVO’s Cultural Vision Award. Blaming low test scores and financial problems, the mayor gave TPS officials only 15 days to respond and held no public meeting, besides a press conference, where the “official” narrative presented was quickly aped by local media.
All of this appeared out of the blue. TPS’ leader, Tarrey Banks, in an email to the school’s community, says that last week Beth Bray, Ballard’s director of charter schools, emailed him and said not to “worry about” the school’s upcoming year plan, since in early fall the mayor’s office would meet with TPS’ board to discuss the school’s fourth year review. After a parent notified Banks that someone had heard the closing announced at a meeting, he called the mayor’s office, but was ignored. Bray finally emailed TPS about revoking its charter at 4:45 that day, while Jason Kloth, deputy mayor, was holding the press conference.
The mayor’s accusations concern the school supposedly using funds from a federal start-up grant to pay teachers. Tarrey Banks responded by saying that “We have been fully transparent about all grant expenditures. The ‘issue’ they are stating in terms of grant mismanagement is an issue from the 2nd year of the school and is inaccurately articulated in the media. The Mayor’s office has had this report for well over a year and has NEVER expressed any concern or even questioned us about it.”
Banks went on to refute other statements from the mayor’s office, saying the school has never missed payroll and that the audit proves the school has “had strong enough financials to fully finance and purchase our building in one of the toughest economic and development times in our state’s history.” TPS, according to its leader, is also “in good standing with our bank and bankers.”
All of this has outraged parents, students, and teachers. With only a few weeks before classes are set to start, there is no time for TPS to find another of the many authorizers in Indiana to grant the school a new charter.
As a hands-on learning center, TPS is unique, and its board of directors is even more unique, for it, unlike the