Yeah, I have one meeting whole thing, and then the other person I have no idea.

Oh, you are moving for I don't understand technology.

Oh yeah.

Things are ready to work.

And then I think those are you just saying board that I'm on, and you know, it's it's helpful when you can record it and then transcribe it, but it's like, oh wait, we spent the first five minutes just like catching up.

This doesn't need to be part of the the record.

Oh yeah, we can go ahead.

Cool.

Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and call the meeting of the Indianapolis Charter School Board to order here.

Um we do have a quorum present.

We're not going to call the role right now, but if you wouldn't mind just introducing yourself, um we can go around the room real quickly.

Welcome to everyone here.

Um this evening, we're looking forward to the presentation.

We'll start with Markham.

Uh my name is Marco Dominguez.

Um Central Grey Union uh here in Indiana.

Uh Bruce Nougay, uh CEO for Bloomstone Investment Group.

Thank you.

Mary Ann Sullivan.

Aria Maestra, the writer and founder of Spanish for entities and Lives Right.

And I'm Alison Ackerman, I'm the founder of Courtland Consulting.

Okay, Jaina.

Um we did just introduce everybody, but also a special welcome to Alison and Maria because this is their first meeting joining us.

Of course I forgot that.

Um welcome, so appreciate your willingness to step up and do this work.

It's great.

I'm happy to have met with both of you and look forward to working with you.

Um so tonight, um, as you all know, is an informational update for the charter school board.

Um, there's not going to be a vote, there's not any specific action being taken, but we are going to get to hear tonight from Believe Schools.

Their application for their second Indianapolis school received this board's approval in 2022, and they're now on track to open in the fall of 2026.

Um we've done this before when we've had some uh adjustments in an application from approval to opening.

Um we felt that those things are worth sharing publicly.

Um so given that it's been a couple years since that approval and that there have been some meaningful, um, I think pretty exciting developments in the plans for the school.

I just wanted to make sure that the board and our community were fully informed as we approach that first day.

Um so we'll talk a little bit more about those things specifically in a moment, but I did want to uh kind of this is the time when I would walk you through whatever the processes that we're discussing.

So in this case it's pre-opening.

Um but I'm actually a little excited as well to get to talk through kind of all of the the different things that our team does with schools once uh a board would would vote on approving an application.

So um in this case, much of the nine months prior to school opening is spent on working out all of the big medium and small details that are necessary for school to be able to launch.

Um so the first quarter of this year usually is spent on kind of regular touch points with the school, um, understanding what enrollment looks like, what staffing looks like, um, what kinds of changes maybe have occurred since approval.

Then we kind of ramp up those touch points and getting to more of the compliance-driven um kind of even like building specific things as we head into the the late spring and summer.

Usually we would do a um a facility walkthrough in the summer as well.

Um in this case, as you'll hear, um, this facility is already prepared to be a school, but in in a usual case, we would be ensuring that all of the different safety standards are met, that the building and all of its materials are ready for students and staff to be there before school would actually begin in August.

Um, and our and in our process, that is also meaningful date because that's when a charter is signed, it's right around school opening.

Um so this kind of uh just summarizes what I just said.

Um, but I think kind of speaks to all of the work that both myself and really members of my team are doing with school teams leading up to um leading up to the first day.

Um so with that moving pretty quickly tonight.

Um, if we have anyone who would like to see to the board tonight or comments, see no one, I think we're moving off.

Great.

So I think we're ready to hear from a accelerator.

Um, as the belief folks uh get ready to come up here.

Um I'll just say just a few details kind of up on the screen about this school and you know, also the school that they already operate over on Capital.

Um, as you'll hear, they originally designed this application to serve kind of a broader group of students, but as they've gotten closer to opening, they've identified a more specific need and really focused and sharpened their plans on students in our community who I think need what they have to offer most.

Um the Believe Indie Accelerator is really designed for those students who need a clear path to graduation and are looking for a more accelerated opportunity to achieve that.

Um, but what we really appreciated as we were um reviewing this application and kind of working with Believe as they kind of made that targeted focus over the last several months is that it really retains everything about the original school model that we think is strong.

Um, you know, particularly their commitment to rigorous college level coursework, um their efforts around building a really strong culture within their building and within the groups of scholars and staff to ensure that students, whether they're there for a specific you know, college focus or they're looking for more career focused programming, are really receiving the support that they need from the staff and people around them in the building to get them where they ultimately want to go after high school.

Um, as you'll hear, um, another kind of key update I just wanted to highlight from our review.

The school will be co-locating with the existing Believe Circle City High School.

We think that offers a really great opportunity to launch efficiently and to take advantage of all of the existing um both staffing and programming opportunities that already exist at the high school.

Um it also allows them to really focus the model and keep things kind of smaller earlier when working out some of those newer program, working out some of those newer programs can really benefit from an opportunity focus on a smaller student population.

So the enrollment projections you'll notice are also smaller than what was initially uh proposed, but that also is very much in line with kind of an efficient launch and really answering the question not you know, not who do you know who do adults want to serve, but what is it that kids in this community actually need.

Um, so they're they're ready.

I'll let you hear now from them more about the work that they're doing and would encourage you to think of any questions you want to ask.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, everybody.

Good evening.

I'm gonna kick us off and then I'll kick it over to Angel.

Uh Shana highlighted a lot of the reasons why we're back to talk to you guys again today.

Um, we are grateful for your time.

We're grateful for the support the OEI has provided us in this process.

Um, our charter was originally approved back in 2022 when we thought we were gonna replicate our existing model.

Um I am a quality over quantity person, and so it was really important to us that we did not grow too fast.

Um, in 2024, we opened our second uh campus in St.

Louis.

So we opened the same model in a different city, and they are thriving.

And in 2025, we opened uh Believe Middle College, which you'll hear about momentarily once we go through our PowerPoint.

That particular model has been near and dear to our heart, and as we thought about it, uh what Indianapolis needed and the landscape of what we were saying here is how the accelerator was born.

And so we're excited to share with you guys today what we are dreaming up, um, but also are measured enough to know that we're trying something new.

Uh, this the population that we're attempting to serve is uh is similar to the current population we serve a historically underestimated group uh that we often overlook um in the high school area, and so our um current model is working really well with our current demographic, but there is a subset of our kids who just struggle and they struggle in any traditional school model, and so we are trying to fill that gap and figure out how we can serve all kids well, um, which is what you'll hear Angel is dreaming of right now.

And so I'll kick it over to her.

Hi everyone, good evening.

Want to talk to you guys a little bit about so Miss Nil kicked us off just to introduce Tegan Von der Height, our chief of staff.

Um, we're excited to give some updates and talk a little bit about believe.

Um, these are the things that we believe in.

So these are the things that you are that you would find true in all of our buildings.

We care for our scholars, our staff.

We want to make sure that everybody's seen feels seen, heard, and appreciated.

We believe that every scholar has something within, and we want to make sure that we're able to ignite that passion, especially as we prepare them for postsecondary.

We believe in inclusive environment.

We want kids to feel safe at school.

And this is for all.

And how are we doing that?

Through our village model.

So I'll talk a little bit about that.

Village, I believe, is a visory.

It's the way that we can make sure that all of our scholars are connected to an adult.

And that adult tracks them at their the moment they walk through our doors to the moment that they graduate.

We do that in partnerships with families.

We do that in partnerships with our scholars.

And then last, we believe in a whole child approach.

And so that village model is really there to make sure that we are able to hold scholars accountable and have high expectations because once we set those high expectations, we know that they'll rise to those.

These are some results that we believe attendance has is down across the city, but these are some things that we've been able to highlight.

That's been through very intentional intentionality around investment with scholars and them wanting to come to school.

So the programming that we offer really pulls kids in.

Within five years, we're saying a hundred scholars in total, but at full scale, the school would not house more than 250 scholars.

This is a little bit of the anticipated uh demographic breakdown based on what our current population is currently at our ND school.

We for next year are not anticipating having more than three staff members.

That's intentional because it's such a small cohort, but also because we will be able to have our scholars at accelerator take some classes with our circle city staff as well.

And so we currently are in the midst of hiring.

We're looking for a special education teacher that can come on board for the accelerator and looking to hire a program director that will be an internal hire is what we believe at this point in time.

These are three profiles of scholars that we're looking to engage, or three profiles of scholars that the accelerator would be targeting.

First, the first profile is for the newcomer.

Oftentimes what we're seeing is our newcomer population will migrate to the country in seventh grade, eighth grade, or even sometimes ninth grade level.

They may not have any formal education depending on what kind origin country they're coming from.

But they're now enrolled as a freshman based on age and they could be 17 or 18 with very little credits, maybe zero credits at all.

They're not looking to be in high school for four traditional years.

They're looking to get what they need so that they can graduate sooner rather than later so that they can go into the workforce.

But re-engaged learner is the scholar who might have been in high school for two or three years already and hasn't been successful.

And they're on the verge of wanting to potentially drop out of school, and they're looking for one more opportunity that can get them over the finish line.

And then the last profile is of the unconventional learner.

That's a learner who is just, I don't want to be in traditional high school.

I I have the aptitude to do independent learning on my own.

We have a scholar now currently that's a junior that has all her credits and she doesn't want to wait until her senior year to graduate.

The accelerator could be a potential for that scholar as well.

So we are looking at, we're calling the Believe Accelerator an opportunity model designed or opportunity school model designed to help scholars either who are off track or seeking a faster path to graduation day.

And the way that we're getting or imagining scholars to get to to that to graduation day is through five different ways.

One, accelerated credit recovery.

For a scholar who is behind in credits, we're looking at a year-round model, and so looking to summer and like a two terms starting in August.

So there will be like from summer two terms, and then August through October a term, and then October through December turn a term so that they can earn their credit sooner or accelerated if that makes sense.

Flexible scheduling, uh focused on closing gaps quickly without lowering the rigor.

This is not a model where we want kids to think that they're just gonna look at this breed all day, earn credits and not have high expectations for rigor.

We still want to make sure that we're engaging scholars in high academic classes, but it is blended.

And so uh we have already talked about the the small cohort aspect, but move to the blended learning.

There will be in-person classes and uh credit recovery through a platform that we call Edmontum that allows scholars to earn credits by not having live teaching.

Um we're thinking and imagining this is our teachers being able to support scholars who might struggle with just being on the computer all the time.

I don't know if you guys have experienced that yourself, but it's challenging to be able to do that, and so we do have some wraparound supports that will be able that will allow scholars to be able to engage in that learning.

Whole child supports, we are really big on our SEO model and making sure that our scholars have advisors that they have counseling supports if they need the counseling supports.

Um attendance and behavior interventions are embedded in what we do.

Um, and then last post-secondary readiness focus.

We will have a graduation coach to support scholars to make sure that they are staying on track to graduation.

We also want to make sure that our scholars leave us with not just their diploma but also industry-based certifications, or if they want to engage in our dual enrollment partnership and earn some college credits that they can do that as well.

And so we will have that opportunity available for all of our students at the accelerator.

This slide just highlights some of the successes that we've seen at our current school in Indianapolis, Circle City.

We're proud of the what scholars have been able to walk away with at Believe.

So 24 and 25 graduating classes, 25% of those scholars walked away with a associates degree.

And another 37% walked away with industry or ICC, which is at least one year of college.

We also had 20% of scholars in both classes walk away with a certification.

That is just not what we believe in at the core of the work that we do.

I'm supposed to speak to middle college.

I spend probably about a third of our time in St.

Louis at our St.

Louis campus.

St.

Louis is also co-located.

And so we have Believe Academy, which is similar to our Believe Circle City, and then Believe Middle College is on the other side of the building.

Some of the things that I think make Believe Middle College really unique is they they're not having any major cultural issues.

Right now, our kids in both cities are in all sorts of springtime drama, which is typical for this time of school year.

But this is our first time and our first experience with this special population.

We're not seeing the same type of energy or cultural issues that we're seeing at the traditional high school level, which I'm excited about.

We have seen a dip in enrollment.

And so about three students, they're they're at 41 students actually right now in their first year.

They similarly started with a slow growth.

We started with 10 or 12, 10.

We started with 10, and they're up to 41 now because they're accepting students year round.

And we saw some dip in our last data points, just around a few students who have decided they want to work and they don't want to go to school, but they're still above where we thought we would be at this time of school year.

So their retention numbers are really strong.

Some of the things that I'm seeing that are exciting is they're doing things like going to get your driver's license.

But that's they're such a small cohort.

They put them in the band and went to the DMV and said, you guys, that's part of life and adulting.

And so those are some of the types of skills that our team there is really focused on making sure that our students when they leave, and they're really young adults, are really able to be young adults.

So I'm super excited about some of the work that they're doing.

I believe we will have three to five graduates in the next two weeks.

They passed 75% of the high stake test, high stakes testing, and we're waiting on the results from the last test.

We're excited about this because what we're seeing with the special population is often they sit on the books in these types of schools and programs, but never finish.

So we kind of voice these over, but this is the long-term impact and what we want to be true for all of our graduates that leave us.

One securing a high wage future.

In-demand degree attainment, again, wanting to make sure that scholars who are going to college or want to go to college are able to walk into college with credits.

That is cost savings for families and our kids have really benefited from that.

And then also just a proven post-graduate success.

We have an entity called Beyond Believe that tracks our scholars even after graduation, allow us supporting them as they learn how to adult.

And so we have really seen our scholars who have graduated from our school still come to us for support when they need it, even if it's just for advice about a car that they should should I get this car?

under their belt um that is cost savings for families and and our kids um have really benefited from that and then also just a proven postgraduate success we have uh entity called beyond believe that tracks our scholars even after graduation allow us supporting them as they learn how to adult um and so uh we have uh really seen our scholars who have graduated um from our school still come to us for support when they need it even if it's just for advice about the car that they should I should I get this car should I um how do I open a bank account those type of things um it's always great to make sure that we're able to provide those supports for our kids these are just a few of our partners that we have established already in Indianapolis um and definitely looking to expand more um but very proud of the the work that we have um been able to do for our scholars with our partners all right so getting into financial overlook just a little bit um obviously we're starting small I think that's one thing that Shana called out and that Kimberly did as well from our original charter application.

And as Kim talked about at our middle college campus in St.

Louis starting small was really key to make sure we build the community and build that model and program both within the school community but in the larger community and so hopefully you kind of see that strategy reflected in the budget model that we submitted as we scale to as Angel mentioned to about a hundred students by year five our goal is to keep our costs low and to build our cash reserve and so starting with 35 students budgeting just under that in the shared space helps keep operational facilities costs low you utilizing our current partnership with Indigo for transportation expenses to also keep those costs low and not offering the traditional yellow school bus model and then also a good balance of full-time hires and contracted services outsourcing some of our um program costs to some of the partners that Angel had on screen and mentioned as well the other main thing I'll call out is that we of course got the CSP grant and so we are in the second year of that which has helped really get us to where we are now and will help us um with a strong start as we start in August I think those are the main things to call out of course just making sure we're like I said preparing for the future and making sure we're sustainable and really just strengthen our overall financial position um making sure we keep cash on hand build that cash reserve and of course meet all of our um you know requirements with OEI meet and exceed is what we're we're working towards the last thing I will call out is as we made the decision around the model and what we do I've had uh lots of conversations with Superintendent Johnson to make sure that whatever we created was filling a gap and so we are not interested in just opening schools for the sake of opening schools we want to make sure that what we're doing is locked and lockstep with what the community of Marion County needs and in all of our conversations the gap of specifically our newcomer population has come up considering uh that their campus closed in the past year and so uh the increase in population and the lack of people um ready to serve that population is high and so that also helped inform why we decided to go this route okay thank you Kimberly Angel and yes um is it Tegan T I think at this part we're gonna go ahead and take some questions from the board I don't know if anybody's got one that they're just dying to ask right away so and our board chair Dr.

Jones is also here to support us so hello okay more more than a question um a comment I'm glad to see the partnership that you have developed that helps a lot and it says a lot of the involvement of the community and what you're serving so congratulations for that really really helps um quite curiosity have you seen any um options in the school participation from the students mostly from the international community yes can you levelate a little bit more just on that please we yes we have seen an uptake uptick in students who are fearful to come to school and we have worked really hard to figure out how to support all scholars through the current climate to say I was thinking real hard on that one but attendance is a concern um and that is something that we hope with the more flexible model we will be able to address needs um in spite of some of the pending fears very quickly is there anything besides you know listening to you guys um that we can do to support the job that you guys are doing the more the more flexibility that we have just around what service looks like

Very quickly.

Is there anything besides you know listening to you guys?

Um that we can do to support the job that you guys have doing.

The more the more flexibility that we have just around what service looks like for all populations, the easier our job is.

And so, as we know in 2026, a lot of our youth just don't want to go to school.

Uh, they want to work, they feel the need to work or to support their families, uh, regardless of whether they're international students or not.

Um, they just feel the need uh that a traditional four-year model is not going to work for them in their circumstances.

Andrew alluded to the increasing housing issue.

We have a lot of students who are head of household.

We have some students who are facing housing disparities.

One of the students that I have to call when I leave here, um, her mom just dropped her 13-year-old uh sister off and said, figure it out.

And so when you're 18 and you're responsible for raising your 13-year-old, uh coming to school from seven to three five days a week and working a full-time job is not feasible.

Um, especially when you've got to get your kid to school or your little sister to school and from a nine to four o'clock school schedule.

And so the flexibility of being able to offer alternative options for high school age kids who still want a high school diploma, who still want to go to college, who still want a high school experience, but can't um commit to the traditional model that we all grew up in is what we're trying to solve for, and that fits so many of our different demographics of students now that we are having to get more creative than ever.

So the more flexibility that authorizers can provide around what that looks like, I think the easier the then this role can be because it is a it is a challenge that none of us have had before.

And I've been a leader, I've been a principal since 2008.

And so seeing the level of DCS involvement, homelessness, independent living, um, our international students and the struggles that they're facing is very different now than it was in 2010.

Uh, and I live in Chicago in 2010 and so dealt with similar of all the things, but the magnitude that we're facing right now looks and feels very different than it did 10 years ago and 15 years ago.

And so the level of flexibility and innovation that we're having to um navigate through is uh we're in uncharted territory, and so the more flexibility and freedoms that we have in the confinements of high expectations for students and families, uh the better.

And I need to ask you, and this is the last question.

And I need to ask you about this.

Are you teaching financial education?

Yes, and that should have been on I think that's on the slide.

Uh financial literacy is really important to us, and we've swung the pendulum from early conversations just around um wealth building and what that looks like to basic things like how do you do your taxes?

Um, because our kids unfortunately uh some of them just don't have the exposure of how to do those types of things.

So our financial programming has evolved uh over the years to say the least, but it has always been a part of our core model at our traditional school, and it will be part of our core model at the accelerator as well.

Thank you.

More so I would say at the accelerator as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have one question.

Um, your three learner profiles are all very different, and I'm imagining them in one small cohort.

How do you differentiate across those profiles to ensure those students stay engaged?

Uh, you know, some of them are highly self-motivated, some are coming back and getting reengaged.

How do you both differentiate but also include them?

And and maybe you can speak to some of the success at middle college.

I know you mentioned some of the completion there, so some of the things that you're doing there that you plan to continue here.

Well we're seeing a little bit different because the demographics are different at middle college is that we have kids that come in ready to pass the test immediately, and then they become the tutors for the other students who struggle a little bit more.

And so that's the dynamic that we've seen at middle college.

I think the dynamic at accelerator will be different because I think we're gonna have a larger spectrum of student uh profiles.

Uh St.

Louis's homogenous in cultural demographics.

Um here, as you heard, we're 60% um English language learners and 40% everything else.

Um and so what I anticipate happening is our higher performers who just want to get through school could take on that like mentor support um in the cohort um and be kind of the uh accountability buddies is what we call it um to help some of our students who might struggle and might need an extra level and extra layer of support.

And what we even see in our traditional model in our village, Angel talked a little bit about our villages, is that that um ecosystem naturally forms when you put um heterogeneous groupings in uh small groups, and so we already see that we're praying and hoping that we will see that at a larger scale with our cohorts at the accelerator, at least that's what I'm anticipating.

I don't know if Angel you had anything you'd want to add to that.

I think on the academic side, we know that the unconventional learner is going to be able to do more independent, um, whether that's online or at a college course at Ivy Tech, um, where our scholars who need other supports like special education support or um English language learner support, that that would be more of the they'll get more intentional interventions.

Um and there's uh also in the charter application, you'll see us talking a little bit about our math labs and our um reading interventions that would give a little bit more supports for scholars that need needed academically.

So it just will look different, but it very intentional supports for all groupings of kids.

And I hope that the relationships they build will support them throughout and beyond, which is our hope for our kids.

My question goes to if you can share a little bit more about your partnership with Indigo.

I was just curious to know a little bit more about that.

Yeah, so uh when we launched in 2020, uh our our our goal was for our scholars to navigate uh the public transportation system, which was new uh in the Indianapolis landscape because a lot of parents weren't used to kids using um public transportation.

Now we in 2026 uh we all our our kids use it faithfully, and so they have a bus card um that the school pays for for them to get to and from school.

They are pretty independent with it.

Um on the Circle City side, we actually use the public transportation for field trips.

And so if we're coming down to the State House for something, our kids will get on the red line and uh they they navigate it very well.

Um the second question is what are the difference between St.

Louis campus and Indianapolis campus, the challenges you see there are the same challenges you see here.

Can you share a little bit more about that?

Yeah, I could jump in.

Um culturally, the demographics are a little bit different.

So what we're ch what we're facing here with our students, especially around graduation rate, is we have a subset of our kids who drop out uh because they want to work and they're not looking to re-engage.

They're going directly into the workforce.

So figuring out how to accelerate um finishing so that we don't have the dropout rate is one of the challenges that we have here.

I don't anticipate that being a sim the same um challenge.

We only have 10th graders, 11th graders in St.

Louis now, so we have another year before we'll see that play out as much.

Um so I do think that will be one of the differences and challenges.

Uh another difference that I would say is just um behaviors look a little bit different in Indy than they do in St.

Louis.

Um our Indianapolis students are very peaceful and quiet.

If you walk into our building on any given day, oftentimes when visitors come, they're like, are there 300 kids here?

And we're like, yes, they're all here.

Um so it's just a much more um calm environment and atmosphere.

Our St.

Louis kids are just rowdier.

I don't I don't have another language for it.

Uh they are just a little bit louder, a little bit rowdier.

Um, and uh all of them are full of love and joy and all the things we want for our kids.

In both cities, it just presents a little bit differently.

Academically, the deficiencies that we see on ELA and math are pretty similar.

Um, our St.

Louis kids are a little bit higher on ELA, but we think some of that is because that we have a larger English language learner population here, obviously, than we do there.

And so um the lexile scores look a little bit different incoming than uh in in the two cities.

So hopefully that was helpful.

Okay.

Yeah, thanks for the presentation.

Um I do actually like the model, but I do have a few questions.

Uh things since your approval in 2022, uh, I guess your your has your date of opening steel state the same.

Was it supposed to be fall of 2026?

No.

They would uh every year we thought we would figure it out.

Uh no, we the date has changed a few times for facilities purposes, for model purposes.

Um, and I I said this and I want to stamp it.

I did not want to open a school just for the sake of opening a school.

And so, although we had the charter and could have opened any time since 2022, we needed to have a calling and we needed to feel like this is the right time.

This is the right model, and this is what the city needs.

Um we didn't become part of IPS until 20.

That was the next challenge after that was we became an innovation school to collaborate with the district.

Um, and so it's been every two years, uh, we've been working on something big, and so this upcoming year, the accelerator is our something big.

Um, but we're a small team, and it's important to us that we're able to give the attention, the support, the love that our new leaders need in order to launch something new.

And for us, we're all founders.

We founded Believe Circle City, we've been here since 2020.

We want to make sure that we have our hand on whatever we're building, and so this was the year that all of us have the ability to have our hand on making sure that the accelerator launches strong and gets all the support that the other campuses and school types have had as they've launched.

Okay.

So it's been very intentional.

Yeah.

When did you make the decision to uh go the accelerator out?

A year ago.

A year ago.

Okay.

Maybe not even a full year.

When did we decide at our last retreat?

Yeah, last fall.

Last fall.

Okay.

Uh I know you're doing the co-location.

Uh, I'm assuming with your experience in St.

Louis, it's not going to be a challenge for the existing school to be able to, you know, the teacher taking on any of the new students.

Uh, on your from your financial perspective, what has changed from you know what you guys are planning initially and what you're doing now?

Um, and I do know that you, you know, you highlighted the federal grants and obviously the expiry of the fight of grounds to the state grounds.

So, what has shifted from a financial perspective from your old model to this new model uh and what makes you confident that you know this school is gonna stay at least is gonna endure, I guess is the question.

Okay, here we go.

Um, I mean, of course, the main thing is enrollment and per-pupil funding.

Um, obviously dropping from, I believe we started in our uh former application at 75, we budgeted at 75 and we're dropping to 35.

Um, that's the main thing, and of course, with that expenses drop and shift staffing plans and um things like that.

We Kim kind of alluded to, you know, there was a facility down the street in our neighborhood that we really wanted, um, but it just didn't make sense financially.

Uh could we have you know gotten this building sure, hopefully, but would it have put us in the best position to serve kids long term?

No, and we just really felt like co-locating being able to share resources while we're small is gonna help this model and help students in our community, you know be most successful and see some of the outcomes that um that we want to see early on.

Um as we grow in scale and enrollment increases, our hopes would be that we would be able to secure a separate space for for the campus.

Um, but until you know we have a proven model for us, it's just really important to stay small and to be smart.

This graphic is also on the highest demand in our area, and so you look at even the enrollment of some of the Excel centers in the city, it's high, high high.

And so unfortunately the dropout rate and uh the rate of kids that are not attending high school or virtually attending high school has increased dramatically post-COVID, and so we also think the population that the enrollment is uh headed in is also in this direction as well, and that has also influenced our decision.

Okay.

Well, that makes sense.

So when do you think uh what size would it would would you grow to that you think you would need to move away from the co-location?

I think oh go ahead.

Once we yeah, once we exceed 100 students day to day, we would need a larger space.

Okay.

Now we I think we all know the states obviously is gonna differ is going to a new track with education in Indiana.

It's someone on technical schools and the one to four year colleges.

Sounds like a lot of the kids you're uh you're working with who have all these constraints uh might be looking into that whole walk force of little bit, but maybe going to the technical route.

So how are you guys making that bridge or what do you have, you know, it's kind of make that bridge easier for them.

They'll uh be able to tap into our existing partnerships, and so we that is the current reality of the students we already serve.

And so what we've seen in St.

Louis is that the partnerships we established uh with our academy, our middle college kids have been able to tap on to, and we've expanded some of those relationships because we have kids who are already 18 and ready to work, and so that's been really helpful because we've been able to accelerate the workforce piece, which is what employers are looking for, and so we're anticipating something similar here.

We already one of our biggest partners and our oldest partners is uh master construction.

Um we we partner with them and we are able usually right now to send two to three kids a year because you've got to be 18 to get on the work site with some of the students that may be attending the accelerator.

We should be able to get more students that are ready to go sooner, which will solve the issue for our students around workforce, and they will work with us around academic scheduling to make sure our kids are able to finish high school as well.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, thank you all for your time.

Um the question that I have is around um I know you you spoke about um how you keep up with students after or post graduation.

Do you have any data that supports how many students are reaching out, what kind of their concerns are to kind of just update I can give anecdotals at qualitative, but you can get the numbers.

So this is my passion project too.

So uh Beyond Belief is our program that tracks our our alum.

Um we have technically three cohorts.

Our first one was our I guess our COVID class was only a few students.

Um but what we're seeing across class of 2024 and 2025 is about uh we started in 2024 with about 83% of students actively engaged each quarter.

We do monthly Zoom calls where we talk about taxes or fast, don't forget to file your FASCO, and then we'll do two in-person meetups a year.

So we went from about an 83% from that our kind of first founding class.

We're now at I believe it's 67%.

Um and so obviously we're seeing a drop.

There's more students in that cohort.

Um, and so working and also building up that program to put some full-time staff members on there.

Um, but we also have alum that work there as well.

So we have two interns per uh graduating class that have great relationships with their their classmates who helps keep them engaged and connected, whether it's through events um and text messages.

Thank you.

And my last two conversations with the alum were I'm expecting, but I want to graduate from college, and um I dropped out of need money, and I'm having to resort to things that I don't want you to have to resort to to make money, so what can we do to get you a legitimate job?

And so one of the things that I'm grateful for is that our kids are not afraid to be honest with us about what's going on.

So that speaks to our village model and the relationships that we build with our students, and that they're not uh too prideful to say I need help.

And so that is one of the things that I've been grateful for over the last few years as we've started this beyond believe journey, is that our kids feel like even if they don't have anybody else to reach out to, we know the brain doesn't fully form until they're 25.

And so although they're done with us at 18 or 19, uh, they still need a lot of support and help um till they get to full adulthood, and our kids are not afraid to reach out and say, I need help.

And our other alum are not afraid to say, hey, student X needs help, can you reach out?

And and so we've been able to fill that gap for our kids, and that's our team said it's her one of our pet projects.

Um that is uh our I would say our professional volunteer work because that's the work we don't currently get paid for at all.

Um, but we love our kids and uh we want to make sure that they're successful not only when they're with us but when they leave, and I think that just speaks to the dedication of the team um that those are the calls that we take that that are not not in the budget.

Um and so we're really grateful for the opportunity to serve.

Thank you.

I have a kind of all over the place couple questions here.

Um could you talk a little bit about the difference between um middle college and early college?

Because I know a lot of people in Indiana are very familiar with early college and middle college is definitely a distinct difference, and so if you could explain that a little bit.

We are an endorsed early college through sale at our traditional campus that believes Circle City.

Um we chose the word middle college in Missouri uh because that was the language that made sense in that um arena.

Here we're using opportunity school, which is the language that we're using.

Uh all of it means the same.

So middle college, opportunity, schools, or opportunity models all mean re-engagement.

Um and we're working with the special demographic of students that um we're providing an intermediary step between high school and college and adding an extra layer from a traditional high school.

That's my answer, but I think if you chat GPT, you're gonna get something different.

I used to work as a coach at Cell, and I was a distinction, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it is.

I'm actually gonna defer to our board chair on this one because I believe he attended a middle college.

I did.

Yeah, middle colleges are high schools, they're actually across the country and put high schools on college campuses.

However, they're only in a certain context because they're only in certain states.

So I went to school in California.

Okay.

Um, and then a little bit about the is it a gementum, is that I said that right.

Yeah, um, so when you were talking about the flexibility that you need for a lot of the students and the timing, is that a platform that they can they use at home?

I mean, so how does that so we have the kind of attendance sort of standards that some other programs have when they have um you know different age students and how does that work?

I'll let her speak to that mental, but I think we have attendance rates for middle college that we can share with you.

Do you want to was that in the point?

I don't think it's on the they're at an 84%, 83 or 84.

80, yeah, I was gonna say their mid the middle college's current attendance is not is within single digits of our traditional schools.

Um, and so that also is miraculous considering the demographic di shift of who we're serving.

Um, but they love us and they come to school.

Uh and so we will see.

But Angel, I don't know if you want to add anything about adminsum specifically.

Yeah, admintum allows gives us all the flexibility, and so um we we have as an example seniors that uh might need one more credit, but they're also in an internship at CVS.

Uh they have to leave for their internship at noon because they work until four or four thirty, but they can take their class at home, and so they can log in, it's paced out.

It's um you you log in, you take the lesson, take the quizzes, um, and then it it shows progress along the way.

Um, and once the the course is finished, then you're finished and and the credit has been awarded.

So it allows scholars to, you know, we've had some scholars that are enrolled in uh a course on admintum that takes them a semester long to finish.

We also have had scholars complete it in four weeks because they're super motivated to get it done, um, and they're gonna spend every moment that they have at home or not at work working on their adminsum course.

Um you mentioned in the um update that this would be important for athletics and clubs and things like that.

Um how does that work on the athletic portion or are because they're two separate schools, are they able to play on actual same teams, or do they have to, is it more just for the club sports and those kinds of things?

Just curious.

Yes, that's a great question.

So for clubs, obviously we want our kids to, you know, even if you are like, ah, that wouldn't be a high school high term, but I really love playing chess.

Like you still have the opportunity to be in any of the clubs that we offer.

Um, and I think co-locating will allow for that to still happen.

Scholars can engage in um what whatever their passions are, whenever they're highly interested in on the sports side, uh we are now uh member of IHSAA.

Um and so there might be some rules around that that we have to look into.

Um, but uh anything that is not uh a rule within the work within that organization, we would allow our scholars to participate.

Um gosh, I think that's most of the things I wanted to ask you.

I guess um a final thing.

So because you're co-located, and because so much of the core of what you're doing when the accelerator reflects everything that's happening in Circle City, um, in the in the minds of the kids, how do they not see it as like a different track of their school?

I don't know.

We don't offer this track at Circle City.

Yeah, I don't know.

We don't know how it'll be received yet.

That's um if I have my crystal ball, yeah.

Um I think that we will end up having students who attend Circle City who will want to attend the accelerator because they'll want to get done.

Um and so uh we talked about this student.

I sat in on the meeting a week ago with her family and the program she's she's starting.

Um I think she's the beginning of a wave of students who have no desire to do any of the traditional things.

And so that is foreign to me.

I wanted to do all the traditional things.

Um and so I'm trying to wrap my head around it, which is why I personally attended the meeting because I wanted to talk to the school she was going to, the parents, the student to say, hey, your student has a GPA, they can go away to a four-year university, they can get a full scholarship.

Why are we ending high school early to do uh aviation mechanics program?

Um they answered all the questions, and so at the end of the day I had to sign off on it.

I think that is going to be a trend moving forward.

Um and I think that we we need to start preparing now for what that trend looks like.

Anyone else have any other follow-up questions?

Okay, well, thank you so much.

This is uh I think it's really exciting, and I think it's great I um that you are so based on the need um and what you've seen in your day-to-day and again like being on the right side of sort of the trends that are challenging for everyone.

It's great that you'll be able to do that.

Um I don't know, you know, uh you're probably if you do really well with this, people are gonna be knocking at your door.

Um but I think that because so much of what you do, I don't think it's something you can just pick up, you know, and put it someplace else that doesn't share the same cultural kind of values that you do.

So um that's way down the road, but I would encourage you to always protect those, you know, the heart of your program if you do go forward.

So thank you.

No, we appreciate that.

Thank you so much, and thank you all for your time and questions this evening.

That's fine.

Um Shana, do you have anything else you want to say at this point or um if Madam Chair you'll allow it?

I think maybe we have a couple of folks who join us a little later.

Oh, sure.

Okay, there's sure.

Please welcome particularly uh C student.

So one of your respectful of folks coming for joining us tonight.

So if you are here to make uh a public comment, I would invite you to come up right here.

Um you'll come up to this microphone, please say your name so we know who you are, and feel free to share with us.

You'll have two minutes and you'll hear the beep, but it's been a pretty quick evening, so I think we can make time for folks to speak.

So we'd welcome anyone who'd like to come give a comment.

All right.

All right, second.

Okay.

Okay.

You're good.

Okay.

Good evening, members of the Indianapolis Charter School Board.

My name is Javarius Rayhorn, and I'm a 12th grader and the student body president at believe Circle City High School.

As an ever-changing model with the commitment to providing high quality education to underserved scholars, we have made great strides in closing the proficiency gap across the board, our academic and cultural results across our Indianapolis and St.

Louis campuses.

Proof that we excel, that we excel where we are, and that now there is room to grow within our flagship community.

Believe has provided me with valuable leadership experience both inside and outside the classroom.

It has inspired me to broaden my reach in the business and educational sectors as I go into college.

And providing this opportunity to students who may have steered away, but yearn to grow in that way is an amazing thing.

Because there is a growing need for a middle college-like community, like program in our city to give students a second second chance.

I am asking for your support to expand our network.

Believe has grown has proven that we can make an indelible difference, and with your partnership, we can reach the scholars who need this opportunity the most.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Is there anyone else here who'd like to say anything?

Okay.

Well, I think we're completed our business before us, so we can go ahead and adjourn at this time.

Um next meeting will be announced.

Yeah, we'll at some point in the future.

Yes.

Thanks.

And thank you so much, everyone, for coming out.

Great presentation, great answers to the questions, and thank you very much to the student who is here who represent your school really really well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, thanks.