Dina Ferchmin publicly advocated that valuable taxpayer-purchased property should be given to a private entity to establish a politically oriented charter school. Note that when she urges CCS to ‘sell’ the building, she is actually referring to ‘selling’ the property for $1.
For some years, Indiana has had the “dollar law”. The specifics have been changed several times and it doesn’t always apply, but generally if a public school decides to cease using a school building, it is required to sell the building to an Indiana charter school for $1.
In 2018, CCS approved plans to replace Orchard Park elementary with Clay Center Elementary, which was to be built at a separate location. That transition happened after the 2020-21 school year. The old Orchard Park building was used to meet other needs of the district, including storage, workspace for administrative and technology staff and for our school resource officers to conduct active shooter drills and training.
Note that as it proceeded with changing how it used the property, CCS proactively reached out to the office of Todd Rokita to ensure it was complying with the law. Todd Rokita, no friend of public schools in general or CCS specifically, confirmed that CCS was in compliance with the law.
A group attempting to start a charter school by the name of Valor Classical Academy took issue with this. This planned school intended to use curriculum from Hillsdale College, the institution that has attempted to whitewash American history through its development of the 1776 curriculum. The people behind Valor Classical Academy filed a complaint with Rokita’s office, which again found that CCS was in compliance. The Valor group then sued CCS to try to force the district to surrender the Orchard Park property for $1. They lost.
After the legal issue had been settled, CCS proposed plans to make updates to the property. The oldest parts of the school building would be demolished. The less-old parts would be renovated and updated to provide storage, as well as to expand the Edu-Care program. Edu-Care is a private daycare program for the young children of CCS employees and was established to help entice top-tier teachers and staff to come to our schools.
At this point, the group behind Valor and supporters like Dina Ferchmin began pushing the narrative that Valor had just wanted to purchase the building. Sitting board member Greg Brown sang the praises of Valor during a board meeting. Yet the court records clearly indicate that Valor did not attempt to purchase the property from CCS. The judgment in the case explicitly notes that the first communication from Valor to CCS was a letter accusing it of being in violation of the Dollar Law and threatening to sue to force the district to surrender the property for $1.
The duty of the school board is to represent the interests of the district. That does not include giving taxpayer-purchased property to a private entity looking to establish a separate school with no oversight by or relation to our incredible CCS schools. Yet that is exactly what Dina Ferchmin and Greg Brown advocate.
If not Carmel Excellence, then who?
If you're proud to live in one of the top school districts in the state...
If you appreciate and support our teachers...
If your kids have benefited or are benefiting from a world-class CCS education...
If you want our schools to stay welcoming to all students and their families...
I hope you'll join me in opposing Carmel Excellence and voting for Jon Shapiro and Kris Wheeler.
Disclaimer:
As mentioned on the homepage, this site contains both facts and my opinions on those facts. I believe the difference is quite obvious, but if you question which category any particular statement falls into, please reach out via the Contact page and I will be glad to clarify.
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