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IPS leaders to vote on Arlington High School, John Marshall High School reconfiguration this week

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Major changes are on the way for Indianapolis Public Schools. District leaders are looking at restructuring grade configurations.

The goal is to put similar aged students together and eventually phase middle school aged students out of high school buildings.

District leaders will vote on the first step of this plan Thursday.

The first step moves middle school students currently at Arlington High School over to John Marshall High School, and high school aged students at John Marshall over to Arlington. This would make John Marshall a middle school.

If approved, this change would start in the 2017-2018 school year.

District leaders said this creates a better balance in the schools and they’re hoping it will help improve student achievement.

School board members with IPS said this is a change many parents have been asking for.

“It’s kind of the first step but it is also the culmination of previous work from the board… That was one of our early requests of the administration because we heard from so many families that they were not happy with having middle school students in the high school,” says IPS board president, Mary Ann Sullivan.

This would be the first of many changes in the district. Board members said the goal is to move all middle school students out of high schools by the 2018-2019 school year.

Once that happens the district will close some of the under-utilized high school buildings, however district leaders said more research needs to be done before they determine which buildings.