Emergency manager focuses on class size, curriculum
New Gary Schools emergency manager Peter Morikis said focus will be on reducing class sizes and improving curriculum in the school district during a meeting in Indianapolis on Thursday.
So far, Morikis said he has held 20 community meetings as he gathers feedback on how to improve the public school system, he told the Distressed Unit Appeal Board.
“I’ve been really touched by the kindness of the community,” he said. “They have been very gracious, very open and honest with their thoughts and desire to create better schools for the kids.”
The Gary Community School Corp.’s seven elementary schools earned all F’s in grades in 2017-18. The district is looking to improve curriculum and teaching skills, he said.
“I’m very honest with the groups when I meet them, we are not doing very well,” he said. “How are we going to turn that around? What can I do to help that?”
Part of the strategy to cut class sizes will be hiring around a dozen new teachers, he said.
Gary is continuing to recruit student teachers from Indiana University Northwest and Purdue University Northwest. Those students have the option to earn a pay stipend through afterschool tutoring programs, he said.
Last year, the district offered an extended school day at Beveridge and Marquette schools. The tutors were paid with Title 1 funds, but administrators voiced concern about low attendance in the voluntary program.
Chairman Micah Vincent again noted Gary’s enrollment losses slowed this year. The district’s student count is around 4,700. Gary ended up gaining more than 100 students after the Sept. 15 annual count.
State money does not follow students that transfer after that date.
“We need to give parents a reason to stay,” Morikis said.
When there is a nearby charter school, “sometimes as a parent, they are forced to make that decision,” he said.
State Rep. Vernon Smith, DGary, a non-voting DUAB member said Morikis had made some positive outreach efforts to show parents and Gary residents he wanted their viewpoints.
“I’m hearing they want to work with him,” Smith said. “They don’t see him as an autocrat.”
Administrators are looking at overcrowding in Gary Middle School with around 1,000 students.
One solution could be to turn Bailly Preparatory Academy in the city’s Glen Park section south of the Borman Expressway back to a middle school, Morikis said.
“The challenge we face is having people believe,” he said. “People (believe) what they hear. We are trying to change their reality, change their perception of the schools.”
Near the meeting’s end, Smith criticized former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett’s connection to MGT, the company that now manages Gary schools.
“We want no part of him,” Smith said. “People also feel he was a key player in the demise of the Gary Community School Corp.”
He also presented more signatures - now totaling 2,000, he said - from parents wanting Gary to keep the Bethune Early Childhood Development Center open.
Former Emergency Manager Peggy Hinckley had proposed a possible closure, citing building repairs and the cost of $1 million in Title I money to run it.
MGT officials said no decision has yet been made.