8 candidates to run for IPS School Board seats, 3 incumbents won't seek re-election

Sept. 9: This article has been updated to reflect that Terrencio Davis was removed from the ballot.

Eight candidates are running for Indianapolis Public School Board in the November general election. Four seats are open and only one incumbent, at-large member Kenneth Allen, is seeking re-election. 

Voters have the potential to remake the board as the district faces ongoing challenges in improving academics of Black and Brown students, overseeing a major restructure of elementary and middle schools, and maintaining enrollment in an increasingly competitive school choice landscape.

Indianapolis Public Schools is the largest district in the state with around 30,000 students enrolled in schools directly managed by the district and independently operated schools in partnership with IPS.

Will Pritchard of District 2, Venita Moore of District 1 and Diane Arnold of District 4 are not vying for another term. Arnold has been on the board since 2005. 

The deadline to apply to run for a school board position was June 20.
 

School board members are nonpartisan officials chosen by voters. While they don't handle the daily operations of schools, they approve the district's direction and decide which issues receive attention and resources.

Board members also hire and evaluate superintendents, oversee budgets, approve curricula, and vote on policies, such as the permanent closure of a school or whether to partner with charter schools.

In total, there are seven elected IPS board members — five represent specific neighborhood communities within districts, and two are elected at-large and represent the entire district.

Here’s who filed to run:
 

At-Large, includes the entire school district

Kenneth Allen (incumbent)
Allen is completing his first term on the board after winning election in 2020 in a campaign that attracted attention for the unusally large amount of money raised — $266,000. He was elected as the board’s vice president earlier this year. Allen is program director at the Indiana Trafficking Victims Assistance Program of Indiana Youth Services Association and a member of the Indianapolis Commission on African American Males. Allen was not available to comment, according to a spokesperson. 

Deandra (Dee) Thompson
Thompson, 39, owns an early childhood education center on the city’s near northwest side. She has a child in second grade who does not attend an IPS school. Thompson told WFYI she is running because she wants students who leave a high-quality early childhood education program to continue to thrive in their education at a district school. Thompson believes the biggest challenges the district faces right now include child literacy rates and teacher retention. “We need to make sure students are mastering those things and that we have great teachers on board who are paid well and have the benefits they need,” she said. 

Carrie Harris
Harris is an IPS graduate, educational advocate and has formerly worked at Ivy Tech Community College. Her biggest concerns for the district include racial inequities in student academics and the closing of public schools and opening of charter schools in the district.
 

District 4, includes the areas south and west of downtown

Allissa Impink
Impink is uncontested. Impink, 40, works for the Central Indiana Community Foundation as the director of family philanthropy. She has three daughters enrolled in the district. Impink said the achievement gap between Black and Brown students and their White classmates is one of the biggest problems facing the district. “My focus will be on accelerating academic outcomes in ELA and math while listening to the voices of students, parents, and educators to make informed decisions that reflect their needs and aspirations,” Impink said. 
 

District 2, includes the Massachusetts Avenue passageway northeast of downtown

Gayle Cosby
Cosby, 44, is a former member of the IPS board and was often the only critic of the administration's reform plans during her term. She did not seek reelection in 2016. Cosby taught in IPS between 2007 and 2011. She earned a doctorate in Urban Education Studies from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in 2022. Cosby told WFYI she is running to support the district's plans toward achieving equity in academics offerings at all schools and help shape the future of IPS partnerships with charter schools.

Hasaan Rashid
Rashid, 49, is an outside salesman in the underground utilities industry. He has three children who do not attend IPS. Rashid is running because he says he wants to see a positive change for the children in the district. Rashid says the district literacy rate is one of his biggest concerns, as well as teacher pay. “I really want to see teachers earn what they deserve,” he said. 

District 1, includes the east side and near southeast 

Alan Schoff
Schoff, 66, works in marketing and copywriting. He got involved with IPS as a parent when his son attended a school in the district. Schoff is running in order to bring more community voices to decision making in the district. He also feels there is misleading information that is causing parents to pull children out of public schools. He believes the closing of schools in recent years is a threat to the district’s future. 

Ashley Thomas
Thomas, 41, is self-employed and owns a consulting firm. She has three children who have all attended IPS schools. She says she is running to increase community involvement in decisions around school policy. She thinks the pandemic highlighted challenges -- like racial achievement gaps between students and staff retention -- that the district has been facing for years. “We already needed to take care of our teachers and losing teachers in the pandemic was not a shock,” Thomas said. “And especially because of mental health and lack of support, and all of those things, those things existed prior.” 

Candidates have until noon July 15 to withdraw from the general election. Winning candidates will start their term in January.

Update: Terrencio Davis, was previously a candidate in District 2, but his eligibility was challenged, based on residency. The Marion County Elections Board upheld the challenge that Davis lived outside the district boundary at an Aug. 29 meeting. The board removed Davis from the ballot.

Contact WFYI education reporter Sydney Dauphinais at sdauphinais@wfyi.org.