INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Herron Classical Schools stand as the only tuition-free, public charter, college-preparatory school network in the heart of Indianapolis. As the top-performing K-12 school system in the city, the charters see continued academic success, such as high IREAD scores at Herron Preparatory Academy to leading the Indy area with the highest SAT scores at Herron High School and Herron-Riverside High School.

Herron Classical Schools currently have open spots across all three of its campuses.

On Thursday, “Life.Style.Live!” host Felicia Michelle spoke with representatives from Herron Classical 
Schools about open enrollment and student success.

“So what that means for us is that students have more opportunities to access the best performing public tuition-free charter network in the city,” said the Head of School at Herron-Riverside High School, Emanuel Harper.

By making the schools tuition-free, Herron Classical Schools removes barriers to entry so that students have the opportunity to receive excellent education irrespective of their financial background.

“As a classical school and as a school that believes that the promise of a great education should be open to all kids, that we accept all kids across the city without a barrier for cost or anything like that,” said Head of Herron Preparatory Academy Cody Whitesell.

When asked about transitioning from a public school to a charter school, Head of School at Herron High School Anne Deckard shares that Herron Classical Schools are well-equip to help students at any capacity and at any ability-level.

“We have opportunities to remediate any of those places where maybe they [students] need some additional help, and then we also have places to accelerate them to move towards that college preparatory experience,” said Deckard. “So we are ready. We just need the kids to show up.”

Harper also stressed that the skills and life experience students at Herron Classical School gain extend far beyond the classroom, “Academics are kind of what we’re known for, but we also offer rich, meaningful transformative experiences outside the classroom that help students become confident and more well-rounded.”

According to Harper, some of these experiences include national field trips for performing arts scholars to perform across the country and yearly travel abroad experiences from South Africa to France and Japan. For students involved in any IHSAA sports, there are opportunities to sharpen their skills at conferences and state championships.

“We have partners with Eskenazi Health, serving as school nurses, our students mental health services,” Whitesell added. “We do a plethora of after-school clubs; that’s our enrichment for our kids. We partner with different organizations across the city to help bring their programs to our schools, including the Indianapolis Public Library and Chess Indy.”

To learn more about Herron Classical Schools and their open enrollment, visit www.herronclassical.org.

THIS ARTICLE IS SPONSORED BY HERRON CLASSICAL SCHOOLS.