What does South Bend's decision to close Warren Elementary mean for the Empowerment Zone?

SOUTH BEND — A week after South Bend school officials adopted a sweeping consolidation plan, leaders of the South Bend Empowerment Zone publicly confirmed the closure of one of their five schools.

On April 17, members of the South Bend school board voted to close two buildings following the 2023-2024 year and consolidate the area’s public school corporation. Among their closures is Warren Elementary — one of five schools belonging to the South Bend Empowerment Zone.

Members of the Empowerment Zone board took a vote Monday night agreeing with the decision to close the elementary school on South Bend’s far west.

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The vote was largely a formality given the nature of the Zone’s relationship with South Bend schools. But talk of closures, redrawing student attendance boundaries and consolidating another school’s programs into the Zone’s Navarre Middle School has prompted many to ask what’s next for the governance of the five west side schools considering the conclusion of their first five years of intervention will align with Warren’s closure.

School leaders are expected to begin the public conversation with a meeting next week, although officials from both the district and Zone have long said they’re dedicated to working together to continue, in some form, existing intervention efforts.

“We’re thrilled with the Zone,” South Bend Superintendent Todd Cummings said in a press conference last month. “We’re committed to all of our students succeeding, so whatever the Zone looks like and however our conversations go, we want to make sure that we preserve the initiative to improve academics.”

What is the South Bend Empowerment Zone?

The Empowerment Zone was created near the end of the 2018-19 school year as an alternative to the potential state takeover or closure of Navarre Middle School after years of underperformance in Indiana’s A-F accountability system.

The Zone includes Navarre and four feeder elementary schools: Coquillard, Harrison, Warren and Wilson. Though the schools are still a part of South Bend’s public district, the Zone operates with academic independence and is managed by its own nonprofit board. The arrangement provides a high level of autonomy to Zone administrators so they can make their own decisions about curriculum, scheduling and school-level spending.

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Although the creation of the Zone was widely seen as an effort first driven by state officials, a spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Education told The Tribune last summer that the State Board of Education no longer oversees operation of the Zone after a change in Indiana law.

The original plan for the Zone called for a five-year “transformation” marked by increasing scores on the state’s ILEARN exam as well as improvements in attendance and student discipline. Those goals, however, were set well before the coronavirus pandemic and multiple layers of principal and administrative turnover.

The Zone’s current chief, Davion Lewis, joined the five west side schools in August following the unexpected departure of former leader Cheryl Camacho. He’s since taken a no-time-to-waste attitude and quickly rolled out changes — such as introducing a new uniform and clear bag policy and strict attendance requirements — to set clear behavioral expectations for students.

Could the Zone continue another 5 years?

With next school year marking the fifth year of the Empowerment Zone, many are wondering what happens next to these schools. Will they continue on with their own leaders and academic independence or come back into the school corporation?

The larger South Bend district’s recent decision to adopt a long-term facilities plan for all of its buildings — the Empowerment Zone included — has only added to speculation.

The district’s plans call for closing Warren Elementary school, which Zone officials affirmed Monday and said they communicated to families this week. Those students will be absorbed into two other Zone schools, Harrison and Wilson elementaries.

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The plan also calls for moving the fine arts program from Dickinson — a school outside of the Zone — into Navarre.

Lewis says the Zone’s current five-year contract contains an auto-renewal clause, meaning unless boards of both the Empowerment Zone and the South Bend district collectively agree to dissolve the relationship, the Zone will continue on for another five years.

The contract also allows the South Bend district to unilaterally end the Zone if they feel Zone leaders have not been financially prudent or have failed to meet their transformation goals, but Lewis, speaking to The Tribune after the Zone’s meeting Monday, expressed confidence the Zone will continue in some form.

Officials for both the district and Zone have said they’re continuing to have “preliminary discussions” about what’s next, though much of that conversation has occurred behind the scenes.

Balanced calendar? Zone proposing changes despite unclear future

The Zone administration and board spent very little time during their three-hour meeting Monday — their first after the South Bend district voted to close Warren Elementary — discussing their contract with the district. After the meeting, however, Lewis told The Tribune he’s operating as if the Zone will automatically continue.

During the meeting, Zone administrators backed away from proposals to introduce year-round school in the fall. With only 34 responses to a family survey, administrators said they needed more public input and decided instead to create a committee to study the calendar for a potential change in the 2024-2025 school year. They also initiated discussion of a new transportation plan that seeks to increase the number of west side residents enrolling their students in Zone schools.

Lewis said he expects more public-facing conversation about the schools’ future to come soon. Zone leaders are expected to give an annual report to the South Bend district board on Monday.

“That should serve as a starting point to the ongoing conversations until a decision, if any, is made,” Lewis said.

Opinions mixed as officials discuss next steps

Meanwhile, public speculation is growing. As South Bend school leaders came together last week to discuss districtwide consolidation, one trustee questioned the cost of the Zone and the overlap of administrative positions between Zone and district schools.

“Replicating services that exist currently in South Bend schools is not being effective stewards of public finances,” Trustee Jeanette McCullough said.

Cheryl Batteast, a retired South Bend educator speaking to the Zone board Monday night, raised concern about the high turnover of administrative leaders and building principals in the Zone.

“Student academic performance and lack of consistent building leadership does not warrant an extension of the Empowerment Zone,” Batteast said. “We need to have additional conversation with parents, community leaders and staff on a long-term plan.”

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During a presentation of students’ academic growth scores, Lewis lamented the academic performance he inherited with students still settling back into more normal school routines following remote learning during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

“When my team came in, 2% of students were on grade-level across the entire Zone — 2% on grade level in math,” Lewis said. “This is a lot more complex than people think. And so when people think we can just wave a magic wand and get this done in a year, you can’t, right? We have to be in this for the long haul.”

Lewis said there’s more than two options when it comes to deciding the future of the Zone. An extension could mean revising or updating the Zone’s current contract rather than extending it as is or canceling it altogether.

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The Zone will not, Lewis clarified, take on a charter school structure and will continue operating as traditional public schools.

Sam Centellas, who’s chaired the Empowerment Zone board since its creation, said the Zone suffered from a lack of community buy-in and confusion in its early years. He said he hopes discussion now is driven by public input and noted that the terms of a contract renewal are not decided.

He expressed a desire for a conservative extension that could be reassessed over two or three years.

“There wasn’t enough public input in the creation of the Zone,” Centellas said. “We want to make sure that we have meaningful public engagement in this next round.”

Zone leaders are preparing to present their annual update at South Bend’s next school board meeting at 5:30 p.m. May 1 at the district’s downtown administration building.

Have a question or story idea related to South Bend's school consolidation? Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter:@carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: What does consolidation mean for South Bend Empowerment Zone schools?