South Bend School Board votes to dissolve Empowerment Zone

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Bend School Board voted Monday to dissolve the South Bend Empowerment Zone.

The four schools that make up the program; Coquillard, Harrison, and Wilson Elementary Schools, and Navarre Middle School will be reincorporated back into the SBCSC.

School board leaders say the Empowerment Zone was never intended to be a permanent thing, and if not now, it would have most likely dissolved in two years.

Superintendent Dr. Todd Cummings says making the decision now was the most cost-effective and efficient option for the district.

"This is about making sure we're efficient, and aligned, and all of our students are learning," says Dr. Todd Cummings, Superintendent of South Bend Schools.

Dr. Cummings cites the success of the district's first academic intervention, targeting schools that needed more help with student achievement.

For parents, school leaders say the transition should be smooth as they work out finishing touches like transportation.

"They've always been our parents and they've always been our students; we are South Bend Community Schools," Dr. Cummings explains. "We're going to work out slow to go fast to make sure that transportation, uniforms, curriculum, all align."

That transition includes teachers who we're told won't be out of a job.

Though the zone will be no more, the district has already been adopting what it's learned over the past five years in the zone to improve every South Bend School; including the use of 'IReady', new data practices, and even the use of clear backpacks.

"We learn from the Zone what we apply to other schools, so I'm happy with the experiment in the Zone and I'm happy with folks who came and supported that, and so we just have even more work to do to make sure our students are reading on grade level," says Dr. Cummings.

There will be parent meetings for all South Bend School families on both July 29th and 30th for a look ahead at the changes for this coming academic year.

More details on locations and times can be found on the school district's Facebook page.