Searching for Hope: Life at a Failing School in the Heart of America

Epilogue

+ + + EPILOGUE On a hot afternoon in the summer of 2011, roughly a year after I ended my series on Manual High School, I walked into the Indiana Statehouse and headed toward the offices of the Department of Education . In a cavernous room there, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett was huddled with his five top staffers and advisors. The question they were pondering that day was whether to launch a state takeover of up to six Indianapolis schools—a collection of schools that according to the data and a series of investigations had long ranked as the worst-performing in Indiana. Manual High School, of course, was on that list. The threat of such a takeover had hung like a dark cloud over the school during the entire year I spent there. Teachers would routinely ask me about the confusing decision-making process and whether I thought Bennett was serious about the idea, and the issue was at the center of the infamous 2010 meeting between local and state officials at which ips Superintendent Eugene White estimated that 60 percent of the teachers at his worst schools were downright ineffective. Now, after years of Epilogue 257 failure, Manual’s fate that afternoon was in the hands of a small group of state officials. What struck me most about the meeting, which Bennett had agreed to let me observe, was how quickly the group made its decision regarding Manual. Unlike with some of the other schools, there was no real debate. The idea that radical state intervention at the school was warranted was a foregone conclusion . There was no reason, the group declared, to believe Manual in its current form and with its current leadership could be salvaged. There was no driving force pushing the type of reform the school needed and even if there had been, the dysfunctional school district would likely get in the way. Thus, the group agreed that a private firm would be brought in to run the school beginning in the summer of 2012, ending more than a century of local control at one of Indianapolis’s most historic schools. A few weeks later, after the state officials decided to take over Manual and three of the other city schools, the local school district announced plans to challenge the decision in court. But that challenge would be limited to two of the other schools. White would not dispute the state’s declaration that Manual was failing or fight its decision to seize control of the once-great school. Local control of Manual would end with a whimper. I couldn’t help but feel sad about the state’s decision, even though I supported it. I’d grown to love the troubled school, and the drastic move served as a reminder of its tragic decline. I felt for many of the teachers, those who cared so much about their students and who would now enter a long period of uncertainty, as many months would pass before they would learn if they still hadjobs.Shortlyaftertheannouncement,Igrabbedabeerwithweldingteacher Jason Wiley, who had become a friend during my time at the school. In recent years, he had singlehandedly persuaded many at-risk students to stay in school by talking to them daily about the need to have a diploma to go along with their weldingcertificates,byconvincingthemofthecomfortablelifeaweldingcareer could offer, and by making his class a lure that kept them coming back to school and going to their other classes. Now, his future was uncertain. “Those kids need that program,” he said. “I’ll be fine if I lose my job. I can get another one. But I want to be there for those kids.” Unfortunately, the dedication and passion found in Wiley has not been the norm at Manual for many years. And as much as I felt for him and the others who had refused to give up, it had long ago become clear to me that radical change was needed. Still, a forced intervention is no guarantee of success. 258 searching for hope From disengaged parents to the emotional baggage so many students carry to school, the challenges facing Manual will remain. The state’s move is at its core an experiment and, in a way, Manual is a guinea pig. Bennett promised dynamic new school leadership teams, better teachers, and a more flexible curriculum that better suits the needs...