New gadgets, rules await students headed back to school
It's typical for a new school year to be full of new experiences: a new grade level, new teacher, new classmates.
As students prepare for a fresh school year — some starting as early as this week — districts across the state are ushering in a host of changes.
Students may be walking into just-built schools, greeting recently hired principals, learning with innovative technology and following updated policies. They'll even face a new ISTEP in the spring to fit Indiana's new academic standards.
Here's a roundup of new offerings in schools throughout Central Indiana.
NEW GADGETS
• Parents at Westfield schools can buy impact sensors to snap onto student athletes' helmets. The small strips of plastic — about the size of a pack of gum — blink red after a high-force hit. Each sensor costs $55, football coach Jake Gilbert said.
• Noblesville Middle School students will take notes and zip online with iPads, building on an existing program at the high school. The school will lend out about 2,300 devices, spokeswoman Marnie Cooke said.
• Lawrence Township high school students will fire up new Chromebooks, spokeswoman Dana Altemeyer said, and mobile wireless Internet connections will be available for students to purchase if they don't have Internet access at home.
NEW RULES
• School districts across the state, including Indianapolis Public Schools, are retooling policies because of a new law that allows parents, teachers and students who are members of gun clubs to leave firearms stowed in vehicles in school parking lots. Other new state laws allow schools to grant excused absences for students participating in the Indiana State Fair and require concussion-awareness training for football coaches.
• Zionsville high school students could face random drug testing if the School Board supports a proposal to test students who are involved in sports and extracurricular activities, park at school or attend prom. The next board meeting is Aug. 11.
NEW SCHOOLS
• Among six new public charter schools opening around Indianapolis this year, Christel House Academy is expanding to the Westside for Grades K-2. On the Northeastside, KIPP Indy is opening its Unite Elementary for kindergartners. Both schools will add grades next year.
• Lawrence Township is launching a new alternative school, Lawrence Advance Academy, designed to help at-risk students who are struggling academically for reasons they can't control.
• IPS will more than double its preschool offerings, adding 13 new sites to the 11 schools that already offer preschool. Three schools have expanded: School 60 is adding fourth grade, Center for Inquiry School 327 is adding eighth grade, and Gambold Preparatory Magnet High is adding 11th grade. Thanks to campaigning by parents and teachers, School 93 on the Far Eastside is adopting the innovative Project Restore model in hopes of improving student performance.
NEW LEADERSHIP
• Administration at Hamilton Southeastern is in flux as the district scrambles to replace Superintendent Brian Smith, who is leaving to become executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, and Assistant Superintendent Beth Niedermeyer, who is taking over as the new Noblesville superintendent.
• About a dozen new principals will start at IPS, said spokeswoman Kristin Cutler. Last year, Superintendent Lewis Ferebee kicked off his administration by shaking up school leadership, making administrators reapply for their jobs. The district did not renew contracts for 23 administrators, including 15 principals.
Star reporter Eric Weddle contributed to this story. Call Star reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.