I'm still enjoying your excellent newspaper and the good coverage you provide for what's happening in the BR community. I heard recently about the planned closure of Broad Ripple High School and wanted to share a few thoughts.

With the growth of the area and current efforts to attract more residents, particularly families, why not re-establish a community or local high school at BR?

School 84 has been so successful that they converted School 70 to the same Center for Inquiry concept. Perhaps BR High School could be rebooted as a feeder school to appeal to the students/families graduating from CFI.

Broad Ripple High School is one of the keys that could help IPS turn around the negative perception among many that it is a "failing school system." Why not capitalize on the momentum and growth in the area, instead of turning our backs on it for a one-time budget fix?

If IPS is unable or unwilling to operate BR High School, perhaps it could become a public charter school, similar to Herron High School, or even a K-12 school.

Broad Ripple and Meridian Kessler have a wealth of private school options, but very few public options. The location and facilities at BRHS could be utilized to help alleviate that and support the effort to attract (and retain) families to the area. In my opinion, it is truly shortsighted to close the school and convert the property to apartments or some other use. Given the current density of Broad Ripple, it would be very difficult to acquire similar land and facilities in the future to start a new school. It seems to me that in the long run, consolidating and centralizing IPS schools will only exacerbate their problems and the perception that there are no good public schools in our area. For the sake of Broad Ripple's viability as an attractive place to live, whatever happens, I think it is important that the community demand that the facility be preserved as an irreplaceable asset for educational purposes for now and our future.

I believe the decades long trend of singles and young couples moving to BR, starting a family, and moving away as soon as their children reach school age is beginning to reverse, but more emphasis on providing resources for families (including school options) needs to be part of a sustainable plan for Broad Ripple and the surrounding neighborhoods. With such an active BRHS alumni and growing number of families with young children, there is a real opportunity to expand the public schools in Broad Ripple to serve the entire community.