Could Arlington High School Be Saved By An Upstart Philanthropic Foundation And Dedicated Alumni?

During a recent weeknight at Arlington High School, a small group of new graduates is back for a pasta dinner.

But before the meal is served Golam Mannan, a retired education professor, stands before them and dishes out some tough love.

Of the students attending Ivy Tech Community College, he says, some are not making it to all their classes. Others are not returning phone calls to their mentors.

Manan knows this because he keeps tabs on the students, sometimes showing up at the Downtown Ivy Tech campus to check on them.

“You know the song ‘Lean On Me?,'” he asks the students about the iconic Bill Withers song. “That’s what I want you to do.”

The ten or so students quietly absorbing Mannan’s words are recipients of a unique scholarship from the little-known Walker Foundation.

To qualify -- you must be an Arlington senior. The scholarship covers tuition, room and board, a computer, and many more expenses to keep students debt free when they go to college.

In all, around 20 students from the classes of 2016 and 2017 are attending an Indiana college with yearly stipends from $4,500 to $22,000.

Mannan, who grew up without shoes in India and was boosted by his own academic scholarship as a teenager, says the foundation has potential to send dozens of Arlington graduates to college and help them graduate with a two- or four-year degree.

The students, some of whom are the first in their family to attend college, are assigned a mentor from the foundation for their entire college career.

“I know the kind of situation there are in, OK? You have to help people. And in the process, people help you. And people need help,” Mannan says. “And these kids could really use the help. Plenty of these kids have a very bright future."

A Pledge To Keep Arlington Open

But the recommendation by the Indianapolis Public Schools administration to close Arlington High School and three other schools in 2018 due to declining enrollment have put the future of the scholarship in doubt.

The Walker Foundation is funded by the estate of late IPS educator Jimmy Walker who died in 2007. Later, in wake of Arlington’s tumultuous return to IPS after a failed state takeover in 2015, the attorneys charged with overseeing the estate decided to use it for scholarships at the north eastside high school.

Now, the foundation is fighting to keep the high school open.

Foundation board member Lee Christie says they are committed to spending an undisclosed amount of money to fund a college prep program at Arlington if the IPS Board of Commissioners will let the school stay open.

They will make that pitch Tuesday evening during a IPS Board forum on the proposal to close Arlington.

“We are committed to Arlington. We are committed to putting additional funds to Arlington,” Christie said Saturday during an alumni meeting. “Sometimes money speaks and if that will get the board to reconsider -- we are committed.”

Christie, an Arlington alumni, says he wants the commissioners to understand their goal and dedication: Help urban, college-focused students, "not the A students, not the B students but students showing some progression and commitment" to succeed in college. 

And there are some early signs the Walker Foundation is making that happen. Sixty-three percent of the 2017 scholarship recipients who enrolled in Ivy Tech’s accelerated associate’s degree program are on track to finish.

Education Determined By Zip Code

The Walker Foundation wound up at Arlington through Christie's old friendship with Tim Bass.

Bass, an Eli Lilly employee and 1982 graduate, is a constant presence at the school -- he’s been mistaken for Arlington principal Stan Law -- and he’s rallied hundreds of graduates to support their alma mater as the alumni association president.

Bass can quickly rattle off all the reasons he believes Arlington should stay open. The biggest: more time.

“We need at least two more years to be really successful,” he says. "We can do that."

The school is expected to post a high graduation rate of more than 80 percent when the state releases the 2017 data later this year. When Arlington was under state control -- the grad rate did not break 45 percent.

Arlington's return to IPS led to groups and various churches partnering with the school and a slew of mentoring programs like Str8Up, Dream Alive and The Power of 10.

Eli Lilly is offering internships and repairing the school's planetarium. Cathedral High School, a private Catholic school near Arlington, has developed a sort-of visiting exchange program between the schools. 

When Bass thinks about Arlington closing as a high school, he is most troubled by how fallout impacts mostly minority student population in the Devington neighborhood.

If shuttered in 2018 some Arlington students will be forced to attend three different schools in three years.

"I doubt if any board member that had a child would want their kids to go through what these kids are going through,” Bass says. “So at the end of the day, this has to be about the kids. It has to be about the best interest of the students. They deserve the same education as everybody else. And you know it shouldn't be determined what zip code you live in if you're going to get a good fair quality education."

Opportunity For Change

Some agree with Bass’s concern -- like IPS Board Commissioner Venita Moore. She’s an alumnus who lives in walking distance from Arlington.

Moore says the proposal to close high schools at Arlington and  Northwest but keeps open four inner city schools feels wrong.

“I feel very strongly that not all schools should be in within the core of downtown,” she told WFYI recently.

Moore recently wrote an editorial in the Recorder where she called for Arlington to remain open, citing a consideration for "options for the future as well as today.”

Moore says she wants the commissioners to hear the ideas of the Walker Foundation, alumni and everyone in the city to improve the school before they vote on a plan that many in the Arlington community believe is already a done deal.

IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee's proposal calls for converting Arlington High School into a 7-8 grade middle school. Forest Manor staff would be relocated to the building.

“Do I think that we have made up our mind? No. I think the recommendation is what it is -- a recommendation,” Moore says. “Do I think there's an opportunity for change. There may be.”

The IPS School Board will hold a forum about Arlington 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the school. A forum for Northwest High School is 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the school. 

The board will vote on the school closure plan Sept. 18 at the John Morton Finney Center.

Contact WFYI education reporter Eric Weddle at eweddle@wfyi.org or call (317) 614-0470. Follow on Twitter: @ericweddle.