KOKOMO TRIBUNE
•
SATURDAY, SEPT. 29, 2018
BY SALLY MAHAN
KOKOMO TRIBUNE
I
n early May, state officials
approved a plan put forth by
the Kokomo School Corpo-
ration to restructure Pettit
Park Elementary, Bon Air
Elementary and Bon Air Mid-
dle schools.
Each of those schools re-
ceived an overall letter grade
of F on the state’s 2017 Annual
Performance Report. Addition-
ally, Bon Air Elementary and
Bon Air Middle School have
received F’s for four years in a
row, while Pettit Park dropped
from C’s to F’s over four years.
But, the Kokomo School Cor-
poration is working on helping
those schools improve.
The corporation went before
the Indiana State School Board
to present the proposal that
creates a “Transformation
Zone,” which is basically a way
for a school district to create a
“turnaround zone” and allows
the district flexibility with state
rules.
The board voted unani-
mously to allow the district to
move forward with the plan.
“Thank you for being proac-
tive,” said one of the state
school board members to
Kokomo schools Superinten-
dent Dr. Jeff Hauswald after his
presentation. “It’s really rare
that I agree 100 percent with a
plan, but you’ve done great re-
search and you’re engaging all
of the community. I’m really
impressed with this plan. It’s
one of the best that I’ve seen in
Indiana or nationally.”
There are multiple facets of
the Kokomo transformation
zone, including improving
pre-K enrollment; extending
the calendar for those schools
in the zone; improving teacher
training and retention; more
personalized learning; consul-
tation with experts and much
more.
“In order to turn around
these under-performing
schools, KSC must act with ur-
gency and relentless planning
to shift achievement and de-
velop a zone of schools where
all students have barriers to
learning addressed, an optimal
learning environment, equita-
ble teaching and learning prac-
tices daily and highly effective
systems and processes for tal-
ent development and opera-
tions,” according to the pro-
posal presented to the state.
Over seven years the cost of
the restructuring would be $6.8
million in grants. It wasn’t
clear if those funds would
come from the state or else-
where. Kokomo school officials
did not respond to phone calls
or emails for comment.
According to the Transforma-
tion Zone plan, that money
would pay for additional hours
and school days for staff and
transportation due to an ex-
tended school calendar; instruc-
tional supplies; funds to pro-
mote parental involvement;
money to pay to support certi-
fied staff members in each
school; a partnership with Eq-
uitable Education Solutions (a
school consulting firm); and
evaluation and research ser-
vices.
The goal: improving each
school’s letter grades in two
years and earning at least a C
in the fifth year.
ACHIEVEMENT GAP
The three schools are on the
north side of the city in some
of the highest poverty areas in
Kokomo. They serve the high-
est percentage of students who
qualify for free or reduced
lunch in the corporation,
which is an indicator of pov-
erty. Various studies have
shown there is a clear link be-
tween student achievement
and low-income households.
Additionally, almost 30 per-
cent of the students in the
three schools have disabilities.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” said
Clara Harmhill, editor of In-
sideSchools, who was quoted
in the proposal. “It’s very hard
for schools with high concen-
trations of needy kids to gain
traction, even if they have
strong leaders and effective
teachers – which very often
they don’t. It’s very hard to at-
tract and retain staff in needy
schools.”
The school corporation says
it would address these issues
within the restructuring by
providing more teacher train-
ing, adding additional (12 staff
and student) days to the calen-
dar and one hour daily. Stu-
dents would gain 264 addi-
tional hours of academic in-
struction under the restructur-
ing plan. This equates to
nearly 40 additional days of
school.
It would also work with ex-
perts in addressing issues with
low-income, chronically under-
performing schools.
CAREER READINESS
The Transformation Zone
will ensure that Bon Air Ele-
mentary, Bon Air Middle and
Pettit Park Elementary are
“aligned to graduation path-
way requirements, beginning
from a student’s first day of
school,” according to the pro-
posal.
Under the plan, Bon Air
Middle School would become
a career pathways feeder
school for the two elementary
schools. In addition, this plan
will pay dividends to the high
school as these three buildings
currently produce the highest
dropout rates in Kokomo.
BY CARSON GERBER
KOKOMO TRIBUNE
I
ndiana
University Kokomo is
defying the odds. That’s be-
cause the campus is growing
– and growing faster than
any other regional IU cam-
pus in the state.
IUK Chancellor Susan Scia-
me-Giesecke said other regional
campuses such as IU South
Bend, IU Northwest and IU
Southeast have all lost around
1,000 students over the last five
years.
But not IUK. For the last two
years, the university had record-
setting graduating classes, with
658 students receiving diplomas
last school year. Now, IUK has
the largest incoming freshman
class in its history, with well
over 900 students enrolling in
classes, Sciame-Giesecke said.
It all begs the question:
What’s causing the boom in stu-
dent enrollment?
Sciame-Giesecke said lots of
things are contributing to the
university’s growth, and it all
points to a shift in how students
and the community view IUK.
She said it’s no longer the col-
lege kids go to just because it’s
close to home. Students go to
IUK because they want to.
“I think we’ve turned the cor-
ner and changed people’s image
of who we are and what we can
be,” Sciame-Giesecke said. “We
really have become a campus
of choice.”
BOLSTERING ACADEMICS
Becoming a campus students
choose to come to isn’t some-
thing that’s happened by acci-
dent, Sciame-Giesecke said. It’s
been a concerted effort that
started with a focus on creating
unique academic experiences.
One of the biggest efforts to
make that happen was rede-
signing the curriculum called
Kokomo Experience and You
(KEY), a four-year program that
aims to educate through experi-
ence.
Now, depending on the major,
students might design a social-
media campaign for a commu-
nity agency, help children in
Guatemala, study fossils at the
Field Museum in Chicago, pres-
ent research at a national con-
ference or travel to locations all
around the globe.
Sciame-Giesecke said the idea
is to give students the kind of
unique learning experiences
they would get at a more ex-
pensive, private college – all for
free. Just last year, around 1,300
students participated in the KEY
program and traveled all over
the world with faculty members
at no cost to the student.
“We are trying to become a
private school experience at a
public school price,” she said. “
… It’s not just going to college
and sitting in a room with 150
other kids and taking some
notes. Students want to be en-
gaged, and they can do that at
IUK.”
The college has also worked
closely with 14 school districts
to get kids interested in coming
to the university. Scia-
me-Giesecke said over the last
few years, around 12,000 sev-
enth-graders have come to the
campus to get a sense for what
college is all about during
hands-on visits planned by IUK
staff.
“They get to come in and see
what college looks like and
feels like,” she said.
IUK gives $1,000 scholarships
to any high school senior who
completes a college-going be-
havior certificate that proves
the student has worked to pre-
pare for higher education. It
also gives scholarships to stu-
dents who complete the gover-
nor’s work-ethic certificate.
Sciame-Giesecke said the col-
laboration with K-12 students is
all about getting kids through
the doors of IUK, especially
those who are the first people in
their families to attend college.
“We’re just trying to reinforce
what our K-12 grade partners
are doing, and saying, ‘Hey, al-
though no one in your family
has gone to college, you could
be the first one,’” she said. “We
believe that every child de-
serves to have that opportunity.”
HOUSING AND
HOMERUNS
Sciame-Giesecke said IUK is
working hard from within its
walls to create a demand for its
education, but much of the
growth can be attributed to de-
velopments outside the campus.
She said one of the biggest
boons for the college has been
Kokomo Municipal Stadium,
which opened in 2015 and now
provides the diamond for IUK’s
new baseball team. It will also
be the home of the school’s new
women’s soccer team, which is
coming in the fall of 2019 and
will be IUK’s 12th sport.
Just 10 years ago, IUK didn’t
have an athletic department.
But in just in the last five years,
IUK has added not only base-
ball and soccer, but also track,
cross country, golf and tennis.
Sciame-Giesecke said bolster-
ing the college’s athletic offer-
ings has made IUK more attrac-
tive and drawn top-notch stu-
dent athletes from all over the
country, and even the world.
And that’s been made possible
by using facilities provided by
partners from outside the cam-
pus.
“We’ve not had to invest in
any facilities,” she said. “ … I’m
the envy of a lot of chancellors
and presidents of universities,
who say, ‘What do you mean
you just added a baseball team
and you didn’t have to build a
baseball diamond?’ IUK just
walked into one of the best
baseball facilities in the state,
and at no cost to us.”
Student-housing projects built
by private developers have also
played a role in getting more
students to IUK. In 2014, The
Annex of Kokomo, located
across the street from the cam-
pus on Washington Street,
opened 52 units, marking the
city’s first major cluster of col-
lege student housing.
Now, that’s being followed by
another, even larger stu-
dent-housing project called Uni-
versity Park. That development
is set to be a three-story, 125-
bed housing complex to be
built at the southeast corner of
South Lafountain and Boule-
vard streets. The apartments are
expected to open in summer
2019.
Sciame-Giesecke said The An-
nex has become the go-to hous-
ing option for IUK’s more than
150 student athletes, as well as
other students from the region
who don’t want to commute to
campus.
“Having that place across the
street is huge,” she said. “That’s
what has really attracted the
student athletes.”
The growth of IUK’s athletic
program and the student-hous-
ing boom has led to another
major development at the cam-
pus – a 26,000-square-foot Stu-
dent Activities and Events Cen-
ter. The facility will be located
next to the Pavillion on the east
side of campus, and provide
space to accommodate large
groups, as well as health, well-
ness, physical education, recre-
ation and athletics activities.
The facility is projected to open
January 2020.
KEEPING MOMENTUM
Sciame-Giesecke said al-
though IUK is bucking the
trend and growing its campus,
that growth isn’t something col-
lege officials are taking for
granted.
She said market research sug-
gests that by 2025, there will be
less 18- and-19-year-olds in the
country, leading to a drastic de-
cline in college enrollment
across the nation. That trend
has already hit some univer-
sities, and it’s something for
which IUK is preparing.
“All the colleges will be com-
peting for the same students, so
how do we adapt to that?” Scia-
me-Giesecke said.
She said the new student
housing project, event center
and gym are good ways IUK
can keep up its positive mo-
mentum in attracting students
to campus, even when the
country hits the enrollment cliff.
Affordable tuition, which cur-
rently runs about $7,300 a year
at IUK, should also remain a
major draw for students, Scia-
me-Giesecke said.
“I think a lot of students re-
ally do want that private school
experience, but they can’t afford
it,” she said. “People are paying
more attention to the expense
of college and college debt, and
students are making a choice
that they’d rather go to IUK
than going away to school.”
But even with a potential
drop in enrollment coming in
the next decade, that doesn’t
dampen the enthusiasm IUK of-
ficials have for the current
boom in student population.
And they’re taking some time to
savor that, Sciame-Giesecke.
“I’m worried about future en-
rollment as I look at the data
and research – which I do al-
most every day – but right now
we’re defying the odds, so we’re
going to celebrate a little bit,”
she said. “We feel like we have
so much momentum going and
such a positive energy right
now … That just makes all of
us want to work harder.”
KOKOMO SCHOOLS MIRED IN POVERTY TO BE OVERHAULED
UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH
ATHLETICS, ACADEMICS AND HOUSING LEAD TO ENROLLMENT BOOM AT IUK
EDUCATION
SPOTLIGHT
FULL HOUSE:
Dr. Amelia Tebbe teaches a full math class at IUK.
(Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune)
HALLS OF EXCELLENCE:
Students get to classes on their first day of school on Aug. 20, 2018.
