Hogsett, IPS names members of group shaping the future of the district. Who they picked
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Aleesia Johnson have announced the nine members who will help design major changes to how the district will work with charter schools in the future.
The announcement was dropped at 4 p.m. on the Friday before the city prepares for the Indianapolis 500 and the Memorial Day holiday.
This group, known as the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance (ILEA), was created out of legislation passed this year under House Bill 1515. Hogsett and Johnson were responsible for appointing the group members, along with the IPS school board president.
The group could make consequential decisions on how the district uses its buildings and transportation going forward, a topic that has generated intense debate from parents on both sides of the argument on whether the district should expand its collaboration with local charter schools.
Hogsett said that the goal of this alliance is to "deepen collaboration across traditional public and public charter schools and support a strong academic experience for all students."
'These accomplished civic leaders are ready to chart a course for the future of education within the IPS boundary,' said Mayor Hogsett. 'I am proud to lead them as we embark on this critical work, and I am confident we will create a plan that ensures a stable, sustainable and collaborative path forward for our schools.'
The members of the new alliance include:
The first meeting of the alliance must be held before July 1, 2025.
Information about future meetings will be shared in the coming weeks, according to the press release from Hogsett's office.
The group will work to conduct a facility assessment on all the schools within IPS's boundaries, including traditional and charter campuses.
It will then make recommendations regarding school facility 'structural changes,' as well as come up with a process for approving or denying future capital referendum requests.
It will also create a template for revenue-sharing agreements between IPS and its charter school partners.
The ILEA must also create methods on how the district can increase collaboration with governmental entities, community organizations or local nonprofits on how to transform school facilities into 'broader community assets for residents.'
The group is meant to create a transportation implementation plan that would consider how to best serve all the district's students, in charter and district-run schools.
More on this SB 1515: This group will guide IPS's future. Hogsett asked lawmakers to make its meetings private
During the legislature's last remaining hours of session, lawmakers added language to the bill that allows the ILEA to be exempt from Indiana's Open Door Law, a policy which gives members of the public the right to attend meetings of governing bodies or public agencies.
The bill's author, Rep. Bill Behning, R-Indianapolis, said that language was included at the request of Mayor Joe Hogsett, and that the group can decide for themselves if it wants the meetings open to the public.
The ILEA's final meeting, where the members will vote on a final proposal, is required to be a public meeting.
The alliance is required to file its final report and recommendations by Dec. 31, 2025.
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Indianapolis Star
5 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Woman accusing Hogsett aide of sexual harassment dragged out of Indianapolis council meeting
One of three women who has alleged she was sexually harassed and abused by a former top aide to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett was forcefully removed from the June 9 Indianapolis City-County Council meeting by sheriff's deputies as she tried to relay her concerns to council members. Lauren Roberts said she took time off work and crowdfunded to raise money for a flight from her home in Denver to Indianapolis, where she lived while working for Hogsett's mayoral campaign in 2014 and 2015, so she could speak to council members. After minutes of interruptions and a spat with Council President Vop Osili about a two-minute time limit, Osili ordered a sheriff's deputy to escort Roberts out of the council chambers when she refused to stop talking. Yelling at the deputy to stop touching her, Roberts was dragged forcefully out of the council meeting while dozens of her supporters chanted, "Shame!" The encounter overshadowed a meeting where the council ultimately voted not to approve the final payment to the law firm responsible for investigating the Hogsett administration's handling of the alleged abuse. Many councilors are questioning why the final report omitted mentions of late-night texts and messages that the mayor sent Roberts and another woman whose complaints launched the investigation. Roberts is one of two women who alleges she was sexually harassed or assaulted by top Hogsett aide Thomas Cook and received messages from the mayor that she said made her uncomfortable. Video captured at the meeting by reporters also depicts two sheriff's deputies pushing back Roberts' supporters, including Democratic strategist Elise Shrock, who can be heard telling a deputy to stop touching her breasts as he tries to remove her and others from the meeting who surrounded Roberts to protect her. One deputy told Roberts to "walk like a lady" before grabbing her to remove her from the room. "Do you have a daughter?" Roberts asked the deputy as he approached her. Moments later, four deputies surrounded Roberts and pushed her out of the chambers. Several councilors said after the incident they were disturbed by Roberts' removal and took issue with Osili's strict adherence to the time limit for public comments, considering the severity of Roberts' allegations. "I've never seen anybody taken out like that," said longtime Democrat Frank Mascari, who was first elected in 2011. "I really feel terrible she was taken out that way." Democrat Jared Evans said he was "disgusted at what just transpired." "This is a local issue that people are protesting," Evans said. "Why they are speaking is because they have not had an outlet with which to speak to this council." Just before the meeting, council Democrats released a statement criticizing Hogsett's leadership and calling for several reforms, including dissolving the city's human resources department and appointing an inspector-general. But the Democratic caucus of 18 members stopped short of saying Hogsett should resign, a belief voiced by two councilors — Democrat Andrew Nielsen and Democratic socialist Jesse Brown — and dozens of people who attended the June 9 council meeting. "Public trust is a sacred obligation continuously earned through principled moral leadership and responsible governance," the statement from the council's Democratic caucus said. "The mayor's past and recent conduct has compromised that trust and weakened the moral authority of the office. His actions are inconsistent with the ethical expectations we hold for ourselves and one another as stewards of this great city's future." 'We won't allow facts to be buried': Hogsett investigative report omissions raise concerns, Republicans call for additional details An outside law firm's investigative report, presented to the City-County Council's investigative committee May 29, found that Hogsett's administration acted within the law during investigations of Cook's alleged misconduct. Three women told IndyStar that Cook sexually harassed them while he was their supervisor, and one said that Cook sexually assaulted her. The report compiled by the Chicago-based law firm Fisher Phillips raised concerns about why Cook was allowed to stay on as the mayor's chief of staff for 68 days following a 2020 city investigation that found Cook had violated city policy. Days later, an IndyStar story raised questions about factual contradictions in the law firm's probe and the omission of suggestive late-night texts that Hogsett sent two of Cook's alleged victims, Caroline Ellert and Roberts. All but one councilor — Democrat Ron Gibson, who released a statement before the meeting backing the law firm's report and the mayor's leadership — ultimately voted Monday night to postpone a vote on the additional $300,000 owed to Fisher Phillips for the $450,000 investigation. "Fisher Phillips did exactly what they were hired to do: they reviewed all evidence provided within the scope of the investigative committee's authority and authored a report that included all the information they deemed relevant given their significant expertise," Gibson said in a statement. "That report was clear: Mayor Hogsett followed all applicable law and policy whenever an issue was reported to him." The council's Administrative and Finance Committee will hear public comment on the report in its next hearing on June 17 at 5:30 p.m. A few council members vowed to listen to the women's testimony during that upcoming committee meeting. "I promise, whoever the victims are, they can speak 10, 15, 20 minutes," Mascari said. The council Democrats said they would soon introduce a proposal that would, among other changes, establish an independent human resources board to replace the city's current human resources division and make the Office of Equal Opportunity an independent agency. They also called to update all anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, retaliation and non-fraternization policies. Dozens of people came to the meeting to call for Hogsett's resignation, saying his leadership and interactions with young women employees show that he presides over a problematic workplace culture. Maggie Adams-McBride, a former Hogsett administration employee who recently resigned after she said her harassment complaint against a mayoral appointee was mishandled, called on the mayor to resign, and for voters to hold Osili accountable at the ballot box for silencing Roberts. Wearing a white T-shirt with the words "Bye Hogsett" drawn with black marker, near east side resident Brianna Dines said she's believed the mayor should resign since IndyStar first reported the allegations against Cook in July 2024. Megan Alderman, a north side resident who also believes Hogsett should resign, said the mayor's texts asking if Roberts' boyfriend knew how "feisty" she is sent a chill down her spine. The messages remind her of past instances of sexual harassment she says she has experienced. "There was something so inappropriate, something so deeply wrong," Alderman said. Lawrence City Councilor Kristine Krone, who campaigned for Hogsett in 2023 before learning of the allegations against Cook, said the mayor should have pushed out his top aide as soon as an internal 2020 investigation discovered his alleged misconduct. Now, she said, Hogsett should resign so the city can work to restore its ethical standards. "It's not just politics. It's not just stupid stuff that goes on at work that you talk about at the water cooler," Krone said. "You are the leader of our city and you work for us. He's got to understand that the decisions that he makes (reflect on) who we are as a city."
Indianapolis Star
11 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
'We won't allow facts to be buried': Hogsett investigative report omissions raise concerns
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Council Republicans also called for several additional action steps, including an oversight hearing, more documentation from Fisher Phillips and a public addendum to the report "documenting evidence and findings omitted from the official version." Hogsett did not dispute the accuracy of the text messages but declined to answer IndyStar's specific questions about them. Instead, he said in a June 5 statement that "there have been many lessons learned and I believe working together we can continue to move our city forward." Meanwhile, two other council members—Democratic Socialist Jesse Brown and Democrat Andy Nielsen — have so far both called on Hogsett to resign. After the law firm's report release but before the two women publicly shared their texts from the mayor, Nielsen said the mayor's actions constituted a leadership failure. 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There's a law, but it's rare, experts say. But the calls for accountability are politically significant, even if councilors can't take direct action. The mayor losing political support on the City-County Council could impact his ability to effectively govern. As one of two Republicans on the council's seven-member Investigative Committee that hired Fisher Phillips to investigate Hogsett, Councilor Joshua Bain said the firm's lawyers wouldn't answer the committee's questions about their findings throughout the monthslong investigation. Now councilors are left with what feels like an incomplete report, Bain said. 'I felt like this report is actually going to end up making things worse and people are going to continue to not feel heard," Bain said. "People are going to continue to think things are getting swept under the rug." In a February Council meeting, Fisher Phillips lawyers reviewed their investigative methods in a presentation to councilors but kept their specific findings secret. Bain and fellow Republican Brian Mowery said they asked multiple follow-up questions about the hundreds of pages of documents the lawyers said they had gathered, their meetings with city leaders and any search terms that lawyers were singling out in text messages. "Because this is an interim report, we prefer to keep the details of what's been discussed and what we've found very high-level," Fisher Phillips Danielle Kays responded at the time, "because disclosing information could affect the integrity of our investigation and what information is provided to us or told to us." To restore public trust, Bain called on the lawyers to answer questions about their process now. Fisher Phillips did not answer multiple questions from IndyStar sent last week about why the text messages that contradict assertions in the report were not included. "Fisher Phillips is being paid $450,000," Bain said. "I think the least they can do is set some time aside and do a follow-up hearing with us." Committee Chairwoman Crista Carlino did not respond to IndyStar's request for comment on Monday, though council members indicated on May 29 that their work to stop future abuse from happening to city workers was just beginning. The ordinance that created the investigative committee indicates the council would prepare its own report that would detail "the conclusion of their investigation, including the method of their investigation and any evidence discovered." The Hogsett administration previously also said it would seek to work with the council on recommendations from the report, which included dissolving the city's current HR department in favor of an independent structure. Meanwhile, an impending June 9 evening City-County Council meeting has garnered interest by those calling for Hogsett's resignation. The group Indiana Progressive Democrats has called on Hogsett to resign and urged people to show up to the Monday evening meeting. "Stand with survivors, workers and every resident who believes in a better Indianapolis," according to the group's Facebook post. "Our presence shows that we will not accept silence or complicity any longer." Democrats also met privately over the weekend to discuss the situation, according to someone close to the caucus who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to disclose Democratic caucus meetings. They did not share any conclusions that were reached or any details of that meeting.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hogsett announces public meetings for schools advisory group amid transparency concerns
Mayor Joe Hogsett's office on June 9 announced three public meetings scheduled for the coming months for the new Indianapolis Local Education Alliance (ILEA), following speculation about whether the group would hold open meetings. The new alliance, which is tasked with making recommendations to state and city officials by the end of this year on how the Indianapolis Public Schools district can deepen its collaboration with charter schools in the city, aims to improve inefficiencies across the district and boost student success. The board, which was created by legislation passed earlier this spring, is not subject to Indiana's Open Door Law and therefore could opt to close its meetings. Speculation on whether the group's meetings would be open to the public arose after language was written into the legislation that created the group, exempting it from Indiana's Open Door Law. Members of the group said that while they hoped to hold many open meetings, they might need to discuss some topics behind closed doors before making them public. Wednesday, June 25, 2025 Wednesday, July 23, 2025 Wednesday, August 20, 2025 All of the meetings will be held at 6 p.m. at the City County Building at 200 E. Washington St. Information on which specific rooms the meetings will be held in, along with meeting agendas, will be shared closer to the meeting dates. More background on each ILEA member: They will decide the future of IPS, but will they let the public in? The group's last meeting, where members will vote on a final proposal, is required to be public. The final report must be submitted by Dec. 31, 2025. Anyone wishing to give in-person public comment at one of the upcoming public meetings for the alliance can do so by signing up ahead of time, starting at noon the business day prior to the meeting. Those who cannot come to the meetings but wish to submit online comments can do so at an online form that will open up closer to the date of the meetings. Those online comments will be accepted until noon on the day of the meeting and given to the members of the alliance ahead of each meeting. Anyone from the public also wishing to provide general feedback to the alliance can also email ILEA@ Parents asked to weigh in: Indiana unveils draft of A-F school grades model valuing tests and student skills The group will conduct a facility assessment on all the schools within IPS's boundaries, including traditional and charter campuses. It will then make recommendations regarding school facility 'structural changes,' as well as come up with a process for approving or denying future capital referendum requests. It will also create a template for revenue-sharing agreements between IPS and its charter school partners. The ILEA must also create methods for the district to increase collaboration with governmental entities, community organizations or local nonprofits to transform school facilities into 'broader community assets for residents,' according to the legislation that created the alliance. The group will also develop a transportation implementation plan to consider how best to serve all the district's students, in charter and district-run schools. Keep up with school news: Sign up for Study Hall, IndyStar's free weekly education newsletter. The district is also holding "community conversations" this month where the public can share feedback and discuss the district's future. Those remaining meetings will be on: June 11 at James Russell Lowell School 51 | 3426 Roosevelt Ave. June 17 at William McKinley School 39 | 1733 Spann Ave. IPS families and other public school families are also being asked to share their thoughts on school transportation services in the city through an online survey. Contact IndyStar K-12 education reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@ Follow her on Twitter (X): @CarolineB_Indy. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Hogsett announces public meetings for Indy schools advisory group
