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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v14n16)
Letters to the Editor - Commissioner Kelly Bentley
posted: Aug. 04, 2017

Note to our readers: Letters to the Editor are the opinions of our readers and not necessarily those of this paper.

Commissioner Kelly Bentley
Statement on the closing of Broad Ripple High School
July 18, 2017
Forty years ago last month, I had the privilege of walking across the stage at Hilton Brown Theater on the Butler University Campus to receive my diploma from Broad Ripple High School. It was the culmination of a wonderful high school experience with inspiring teachers, amazing lifelong friends, and an exceptional learning environment.
Ten years ago, my son Robert, also experienced what it is like to graduate as a Rocket. Our daughter Sarah also attended Broad Ripple High School and was a Rocket for three years. We were and are a very proud IPS family.
The past month has seen a groundswell of emotion regarding Broad Ripple High School-and I want all of you to know that when it comes to the joy and pride of being a Broad Ripple student and parent, I share every word and every sentiment and every emotion. I do not minimize at all--not for one minute-the love many people feel for the school and the memories we all hold so dear. Space does not permit me to list all the people and all the ways that the Broad Ripple education community has shaped my life. In all honesty, I doubt that I would be sitting here, as an IPS Commissioner, without the encouragement and education I received those forty years ago at Broad Ripple High School.
In my role as commissioner, however, I must put the interests of the entire District ahead of everything else. Empathy and sympathy have their place, but fiduciary responsibility must come first. All of us who have been studying and wrestling with the crippling problem of having too many high schools for too few students know that neighborhoods and families will be affected by these changes. We know it, and we are listening.
Emotions and memories aside, there is simply no way that our school District can continue to grow and fund critical needs such as increased teacher compensation, state-of-the-art technology, and expanded course offerings while maintaining a 37 percent occupancy rate in our high schools.
It is 2017 and in an environment of reduced funding from the state and federal government, and with less than 25 percent of the students we had a generation ago, I cannot allow sentiment to overrule my duty-not only to the District today, but our leadership and our students in the future. We must use our scarce resources to support the education of the students we have rather than buildings we don't need.
The motto of Broad Ripple High School is Broader Richer Human Service. This will live on in my heart forever and the hearts of thousands of Alumni who have walked across that stage and gone on to give so much to their communities, their city, their state, and their Country. Go Rockets!




alan@broadripplegazette.com
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