As students return to classrooms and open their workbooks to embrace new learning experiences, teachers and administrators have been working diligently to be sure this school year runs as smoothly as possible. From easier ways for parents to enroll their children, to the many workshops teachers attend to ensure students are receiving a top-notch education.
Superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, Dr. Lewis Ferebee has compiled a variety of strategies as he heads into his first full school year.
As the first installment of The Recorder’s series with area African-American superintendents, we had a chance to sit down with Ferebee to discuss his plans for this school year and his direct involvement in the improvement of the district.
Recorder: You seem to interact with the students regularly.
Ferebee: Yes, last year I started with a focus on listening to our students and so my listening tour began with me having an opportunity to revise my role as a teacher where I could go into the classroom and provide a social studies lesson on the role of the superintendent and the board of commissioners. The first half is a bit of a lesson but the rest is dedicated to students providing feedback. One of the things they talked about was lunch and food. A lot of students talked about how they live in what I call food deserts, so there wasn’t a grocery store nearby. Many of them rely on what we provide. At this point everyone gets breakfast and lunch free with a fresh fruit or vegetable snack and that is solely based on the feedback.
Tell me a little more about enrollment. With the implementation of charter schools and private schools, enrollment has been up and down across the board, not just in public schools.
Part of the challenge in Indianapolis is that we have so many different providers. The problem is there is a lack of communication, so when you have students moving to other schools it’s difficult to track that movement and truly predict what your enrollment is going to be. But we’ve been working hard to ensure we have better relationships.
What are some of the specific goals you have going into this school year?
We are really focused on service and we want to stand out. We believe we can really sharpen our competitive edge with our service. We’re also focused on empowering organizational leadership. For a long time we’ve relied on external fixes and spent millions of dollars on companies coming in to help us. Now we are relying on our internal expertise. We are relying on our leaders, not just principals and other administration but office staff, custodians and others that want to lead and provide exceptional service to our students and families.
There have been many changes lately involving the new ISTEP format. How much influence do you have on the state level?
I think our legislators have been good about listening to practitioners in the field. I think all of the superintendents and teachers have a good voice. I think we’ve been heard and listened to and I feel good about the direction we are moving in. Educators are resilient and they are going to do what they must for students to get what they need. Our students will be as they’ve always been, eager and ready to learn. It’s important for the public to know that when you have big changes like this and it’s so quick, you have implementation dips.
How do you think the new pre-school program will impact the district?
Anything we can do to invest in the prerequisite skills for a strong start, I think we are paying major dividends for students and their performance, particularly in second and third grade where we know those literacy skills are so important and drive how students perform. I am really excited for any effort that will help students gain critical skills. Some children go straight from grandma’s house to kindergarten because in Indiana you aren’t required to attend school until the age of 7.
Would you say you are right on track with where you wanted to be at this point, as far as plans you may have developed when you came into office?
I did a lot of research on the school district before coming here, so it hasn’t been a lot of surprises but I really didn’t come with any preconceived notions or goals about what should happen. I wanted to be sure I had the opportunity to listen broadly to our stakeholders and paint a vision that was created by the people we serve. What’s exciting and the next step for us is transforming the very relevant and compelling vision everyone can get involved in with implementation. It’s going to require all of us to support our young people.
What can IPS offer students that other school districts cannot?
What we offer is unique by demographic. The experience that you receive in IPS, the diversity and the learning environment is like no other and we are the closest thing to real life and reality. What we find is when students aren’t in those situations and they go off to college or universities, they can’t relate. We also have amazing extra-curricular activities. We are very proud of our culinary program. What high school allows you to get your technical certifications, be a culinary student, learn to be a nurse, or mechanic? You can do all of that today at schools like Arsenal Technical High School.
