Council vote approaches, one step in long haul to seek separate Clay school district

SOUTH BEND — The St. Joseph County Council will vote Sept. 12 on a resolution asking Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner to take one of many steps toward breaking off and creating a separate South Bend school district — ultimately to save Clay High School.

The resolution, originally introduced by council member Amy Drake, who represents a district that includes Clay, encourages Jenner to conduct a study. The study would look into the creation of a new school corporation — apart from the South Bend Community School Corp. — to serve the unincorporated parts of St. Joseph County.

The resolution also states that the state secretary of education can reorganize and divide a school district if it’s needed to improve educational opportunities, citing Indiana Code 20- 23-4-38(b).

Aug. 9, 2023: Save Clay group seeks county council's help to ask for new school district, accountability

Clay is due to close at the end of this school year, a decision that the South Bend school board made with a 4-3 vote in April.

Robert Smith, a board member of the group Save Clay, emphasizes that the resolution only calls for a study, not for the county council’s endorsement of a separate district. On June 15, the resolution states, Save Clay had asked Jenner to do the study. The council's action would support that request.

He said it’s “just trying to investigate all of the possible angles.”

But, as much as it’s just a request, it would mark these county officials’ first formal step into advocating in South Bend school issues. Drake and fellow Republican Carl Baxmeyer, president of the county commissioners, have been meeting with the Save Clay group since their campaigns for election last fall. Both are sympathetic to Save Clay’s concerns about the loss of a school and their questions about how the district has been handling its efforts to “rightsize” the district.

Now, fellow Republicans on the council are listed as co-sponsors for the resolution, including Joe Thomas, Dan Schaetzle and Randall Figg.

And this isn’t the very first foray into seeking a separate district. As The Tribune reported in June 2022, a small group of Clay High alumni, led by Josh Gobel and Patrick Malloy, were consulting with leaders in the only other Indiana school district to successfully make such a split: southern Indiana's former West Clark Community Schools. But, unlike South Bend, that was an amicable split with interest on both sides.

June 8, 2023: Could Clay Township become its own school district? Here’s what it would take for a split.

The reality, as the story pointed out, is that the effort for Clay would likely be a long, uphill battle, possible only after seeking multiple layers of local, state and federal support.

South Bend school board President John Anella told The Tribune recently that he didn't think creating a new school district is "in the best interest" of Clay Township and its existing schools. He said it isn’t "sustainable" to keep Clay High open while hundreds of student seats are open, especially if it means pouring millions into building upgrades. He noted that more kids in the Clay district go to Adams High School than to Clay.

And Anella pointed to Swanson Traditional School as a National Blue Ribbon School and Darden Elementary and Clay International Academy as "thriving schools” in the township.

After the board’s April vote to close Clay, Gobel and Malloy stepped away from the district-splitting effort because Gobel was focused on his career and Malloy was in Indianapolis. Smith said that Save Clay is now leading that effort.

The group would seek a separate, independent district to encompass Clay High, Clay International Academy, Swanson and Darden.

Drake said one original part of the resolution has been deleted: It would have asked South Bend schools Superintendent Todd Cummings to meet with the council and answer its questions about plans for school closings and the district’s overall stability. Cummings and Anella did that promptly at the council’s Aug. 22 meeting.

Aug. 23, 2023: St. Joseph County Council hears from South Bend superintendent about closing Clay

South Bend’s “rightsizing” has included closing or repurposing seven other schools since 2018 and moving to close its downtown administration center. As of this spring, it had lost more than 1,700 students in 17 years, causing a $12 million drop in its budget. Although Clay would close, district officials said they’d also fulfill public requests to create a career center and expand pre-kindergarten programs.

Cummings has said the massive facilities plan began with 92 community meetings and 17 surveys to “be sure we’re not spending money on empty seats.”

In 2020, voters approved a $220 million dollar bond referendum, raising taxes to generate money for building upgrades, teacher raises and new literacy specialists, among other things.

Meanwhile, there are filings in federal court that allege that Clay’s closure could violate the federal court-ordered consent decree governing racial balance in South Bend schools. They were filed by the law firm of local attorney Pete Agostino, a Save Clay member. The school district has filed counter-claims. Oral arguments will be heard in federal court on Sept. 26.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. Sept. 12 in the downtown County-City Building.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joseph County Council to vote on study Save Clay school district