Film crew takes over Broad Ripple HS for movie
“The MisEducation of Bindu” is being filmed in the former Broad Ripple High School.
Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar, Indianapolis Star
Purdue Polytechnic High School will end up at Broad Ripple High School after all — at least for a short time.
The Indianapolis Public Schools board has agreed to lease space in the coveted building to the charter school for the next year, while PPHS’ north campus waits for construction on its new building to be completed. It’s the latest turn in a complicated history between the growing charter school network, IPS and the Broad Ripple facility, which IPS closed as a high school in 2018.
Shortly after Broad Ripple’s closure – part of a district-wide effort to reorganize its high school programming – PPHS was one of two charter schools that made a bid for the building. Herron Classical Schools, which runs two charter high schools and a K-8 school, and PPHS sought to take over Broad Ripple with plans to co-locate their programs.
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IPS rejected their market-value offer. The district never said why it rejected the offer, other than it was focused on its own high school reorganization at the time. The closure of Broad Ripple shocked the community and there were concerns that a new option opening in the area immediately after the closure would siphon more students away from the remaining IPS high schools.
PPHS, whose flagship campus is located on the city’s east side, moved forward with plans to open a second location in the Broad Ripple neighborhood anyway. It opened with approximately 65 students in the fall of 2019, operating out of a temporary space at the former Central Indiana Community Foundation building on Broad Ripple Avenue.
The school quickly outgrew that space said Scott Bess, executive director of the PPHS network. It rented additional space at another building down the street.
Today, Bess said the school its bursting at the seams, even between both spaces. A permanent, dedicated school building is planned to be built over the next year and will open ahead of the 2023-24 school year. That leaves a one-year gap during which the school desperately needs more space, leaders said.
“If you guys approved this, it would be a godsend to our students and our staff to have this one-year bridge,” Bess said. “As you can see from our enrollment, it’s really strong. We would hate to have to turn students away because we don’t have space.”
Enter Broad Ripple High School, which has sat not quite empty for the last four years. IPS has been using the nearly 375,000 square foot facility to house various central services teams, such as facilities, post-secondary readiness and athletics staffers. The district has said it will continue to utilize the building for various purposes while it advocates for a change in the state’s law governing unused school buildings.
Current law would allow, under certain conditions, a charter school to purchase the building for $1. For several years, IPS has pushed for changes to the law that would allow it to sell the large property in the desirable Broad Ripple neighborhood for market value, which was valued between $6 million and $8 million in a district report from 2018.
Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said the district will continue to lobby lawmakers for an exemption to the dollar law for IPS. The district’s position has been that lawmakers should consider that it works more collaboratively with charter schools than any other district in the state. It has also worked hard to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, Johnson said, and should be able to reap the benefits of selling such a valuable property – rather than giving it away.
George Hill tweets that he wants to buy former high school
The district may have gained a new lobbyist in that effort. George Hill, an NBA player who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks and Broad Ripple High School graduate, tweeted that he wants to buy his former high school.
“What do I have to do to take over Broad Ripple High School?” Hill wrote on Twitter earlier this week. “I have so many ideas that I think would be a great use of the school… I need help. I want broad ripple high school.”
Johnson said that Hill hasn’t reached out to the district but she’d welcome his help in advocating for the change at the Indiana Statehouse.
The district will also allow another charter school to operate out of one of its underutilized buildings for the next year. Monarca Academy, a new charter school that will focus on the Latinx and immigrant experience, will open in IPS’ Northwest Middle School next year while it searches for a permanent home.
Both Monarca and PPHS’ north campus will also join the district’s Innovation Network.
PPHS’ original campus was already part of the network but IPS rejected an attempt to add the north campus in 2019. Johnson said the district wanted to see a longer track record of success. PPHS has done that, she said.
Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at 317-201-5620 or email her at Arika.Herron@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.