GCSC Manager Paige McNulty, l-r, Denise Dillard, and Eric Parish

Gary school district says unity is key to ending state takeover

Contributed By: The 411 News

Monthly public meetings held in school facilities across the district are now the norm for the Gary Community School Corporation, like Tuesday’s meeting at the Gary Career Center and the next meeting on December 5 at Beveridge Elementary School.

They’re not school board meetings. GCSC calls them “Public Forums.”

School district Manager Paige McNulty said the forums are intended to share district updates with the community and emulate school board meetings as the district transitions to local control. After the state takeover in 2017, responsibilities of Gary’s Board of School Trustees were given to Indiana’s Distressed Unit Appeal Board, based in Indianapolis. Twice monthly board of trustee meetings in Gary were discontinued in 2018.

Perhaps this return to regularly scheduled meetings could calm critics and reduce the anger directed at the school corporation. Six years of state takeover with multiple changes in district leadership and shifts in focus give many in the public a picture of instability.

The DUAB proposed at its October meeting state control should end in 2025. Now, it is up to Indiana state legislators to determine the makeup of the next school board. That decision is expected to come in the 2023 legislative session.

At the Career Center public forum, the meeting was chaired by Denise Dillard, the district’s Focus on Community Outreach and Partnerships consultant. Alongside her on the panel were GCSC Manager McNulty, GCSC Chief Academic Officer Kimberley Bradley, MGT Consulting Group vice president Eric Parish, MGT academics consultant Andre Wright, and GCSC Atty. Michael Tolbert.

MGT was selected by the state to be its local school management partner.

Information on the re-introduction of programs at the Career Center and return of elementary school extra-curricular activities were applauded, but the public comment portion that followed required the panel to have thick skins.

Vanessa Allen-McCloud, CEO of the Urban League of Northwest Indiana and a district partner pointed to the declines in student achievement since the state takeover. “This handout detailing the district’s plans to improve achievement didn’t show me how parents would be involved and I want to see that,” Allen-McCloud said. “I am a supporter of the Gary school district, but I want to see more and I want to see better.”

Gary Teachers Union President GlenEva Dunham told the panel, “Staff morale is the lowest I’ve ever seen in my 44 years. Until teachers and paraprofessionals are brought to the table, until teachers and paraprofessionals are on the committees, you will continue to get the same results no matter how many people and programs MGT brings in.”

Some of the others commenting were not as polite.

“We used to have disciplinary and curriculum committees that met monthly with the administration,” Dunham said. “I want teachers and paraprofessionals involved in picking the curriculum they have to teach. When you have people involved in what they are doing, it works better. If we were included, we could tell them what’s not working.”

Dr. McNulty said teachers do participate in curriculum planning along with curriculum directors, instructional coaches and school principals.

Dillard asked for unity. "We want to prepare this district to be ready for receivership. We can't continue to split, because in Indianapolis they'll say... 'If they can't get it together locally, how the devil can we trust you.' So this is to start us to work it out and fix it. And we can do it better together than we can do it individually."

Story Posted:12/03/2022