Gary Schools Outlines Two-Year Plan
(Aug. 2019) Youngsters in Gary heading back to school last fall. (photo courtesy: The Times of Northwest Indiana)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Gary Community School Corp. has unveiled a two-year plan it says will lead to continued improvement throughout the district. As part of The Path Forward, the district says it plans to publicly release quarterly progress reports to keep the community informed.
The district says the strategic plan includes 29 measures of success across four pillars, including academics, engagement, fiscal matters, and operations.
“I’ve worked in education for more than 20 years, and I’ve never seen a district regularly and publicly share progress on a set of indicators,” said Dr. Paige McNulty, the district’s manager. “This approach is rare, but we believe it’s what Gary residents deserve. The community wants to know and deserves to know how its schools are doing, and we believe it’s an important building block as the district peers down the path of ending state control.”
One of the most important metrics in the plan is balancing the district’s budget. Achieving the metric will be critical to ending the state takeover of the district.
In 2017, the state tapped Florida-based MGT Consulting Group to provide turnaround services for Gary Schools. In March, MGT announced the district’s deficit had decreased to $6 million, down from $22 million in August 2017, toward the goal of having a balanced budget in 2021.
Some of the other metrics include increasing the district’s five-year graduation rate, decreasing the number of suspensions, and creating more chances for students to learn about Black American history and culture.
“GCSC schools are headed in the right direction, and now is the time to build on the momentum by making greater gains in the classroom and thereby contributing to the positive direction of the larger community,” said Kimberley Bradley, the district’s chief academic officer. “Our students have extraordinary talents, and this exciting plan will help make the most of them.”
You can view the full plan by clicking here.