Since delivering a petition signed by more than 1,000 IPS community members to school district leaders this February, parents like me have steadily advocated for the growth of the top public schools for children of color – including public charter schools.
I have personally drafted a handwritten letter to a commissioner, met with a commissioner and joined commissioners on a tour of one of our city’s best public schools for Black and Brown students, which is currently not a part of IPS now. I also spoke at the board meetings in March and May.
During this month’s meeting, I was grateful to see a resolution responding to the parent petition was posted, but as a parent I wanted the chance to review that resolution before it was put to a vote. Luckily, IPS board members listened to my request and paused the vote to allow parents to weigh in.
Several parents who supported the petition met this week and wrote a letter to the board. This letter contains the small, but important changes we want to see on the resolution.
Today, we are asking for IPS community member support.
If you also believe in a more equitable IPS and want to see the growth of schools that close the opportunity gap, please stand with parents and add your name to our letter today.
When we use our collective voices, we can make positive change. I am hopeful that with enough signatures added to our letter, IPS leaders will make meaningful changes to resolution #8020 that will make it align with the request parents made in February. It is extremely important to us that data, showing evidence of supporting dramatically better outcomes for Black and Brown students, is driving the decisions surrounding which schools to grow.
