Purdue Polytechnic High School staying in Broad Ripple

• Beginning in fall 2024, IPS will operate a middle school on the first and second floors of the building.

Catch up fast: IPS closed Broad Ripple High School in 2017 as part of a reorganization.

• In 2018, PPHS partnered with another charter school to make a bid for the vacated building under a state law that allowed charter schools access to unoccupied public school buildings.
• IPS rejected the offer and used the building for administrative purposes while considering its reuse prospects.

The intrigue: PPHS, whose flagship campus is located on the city's east side, opened a Broad Ripple location in 2019, just blocks away from the former high school building.

State of play: PPHS began using space at the former high school this past school year while it waited for construction to finish on a permanent home.

• That agreement was supposed to be for just one year.
• When IPS rolled out a districtwide reorganization last fall, it called for a middle school to move into the former high school and included PPHS staying and sharing the space in that plan.

Between the lines: The partnership would create a natural pipeline from the new IPS middle school into the in-demand PPHS program, giving IPS a chance to keep more students who may have considered leaving the district as they transition into high school.