After a meeting with members of the Carmel-Clay School Board, state Senator Mike Delph said he will author a bill that includes Carmel-Clay Schools’ high performing school district proposal that would lift some state requirements on schools that exceed certain state metrics.  According to Superintendent Jeff Swensson, this will provide another “avenue” for pursuing this concept.

“I really think anyone, myself included, who really, truly believes that the high performing school district designation is another ‘best next step’ for improvement of public education (has) a lot to be excited about,” Swensson said.  “I’m very grateful and appreciative of (Delph) taking this on.”

At the present time, CCS has two options.  The first is to make a proposal before the state Board of Education.  If CCS’s proposal is allowed on the board’s agenda, which Swensson said he hopes to attempt in early February, he said he is not optimistic the board will approve the concept.  Assuming that does not occur, Delph’s bill would allow the concept to be passed as a law and therefore approved in that fashion; however, by making a proposal to the state board, CCS has two different opportunities to get the concept approved.

“We know that any bill that goes through the (legislative) process is not a guarantee, Swensson said.  “We want to make sure we’ve covered every possible avenue to be successful.”

The high performing school district proposal is not the only thing that Delph’s bill entails.  In fact, it also includes a mandate for public schools to start school after Labor Day, a mandate for the teaching of cursive writing and a return to a single class for high school basketball in Indiana.

In a March 2010 HiLite article, there appeared to be conflict between Delph’s proposal and the district’s idea of an appropriate time to start the school year, something Swensson said he acknowledges; however he said he would be willing to compromise for the sake of the high performing school district initiative.

“We’d make the best of it,” he said.

Despite that conflict that Swensson acknowledged, Delph said he felt both his and CCS’s proposals were very consistent in an effort for state education reform, leading to his authoring of the bill.

“That proposal that was brought to me by the Carmel-Clay School Board worked very nicely with what I was already working on,” Delph said.  “Quite honestly, I felt like it was completely consistent with what we’ve talked about over the last several years with education reform in the state of Indiana, although we’ve been more focused on trying to fix under performing schools, rather than dealing with the higher performing schools.”

As of now, and as the bill goes through the state senate’s education committee and through the Indiana General Assembly, Swensson he is not sure what the high performing school district concept will look like when it would come time to vote.

“I honestly don’t know how the bill will change by virtue of the legislative process,” Swensson said.  “We need to be alert and think broadly to what (the district’s) ultimate response would be.”

Whether by the Board of Education’s approval or by the legislature’s approval of Delph’s bill, Swensson said the district is fully prepared and intends to implement changes for the 2012-2013 school year.

“I believe it’s very possible. That would be our goal,” Swensson said.  “We’ve already got some ideas that we’ve worked with everybody, teachers, students, administrators, etcetera, but I feel we are very nimble.”