For some time, Eleanor Skillen School 34 has collaborated with an organization called Paws and Think at their school weekly. Paws and Think brings in therapy dogs to read with 6th grade students.

Buses are rolling, hallways are bustling, and classrooms are buzzing with talk from students already engaged in learning—it’s back to school for Indianapolis Public Schools. And there’s even more reason to be excited this year for the new IPS.

Indianapolis Public Schools is proud to offer breakfast, lunch and a healthy snack at no cost to its students and families this year. When the program was proposed last year, the hopes were that offering this program would help IPS families financially, remove barriers to student learning and increase student participation in breakfast and lunch. Now that the program has been implemented, what has been the result? All that and more.

George Hill and Boomer from the Indiana Pacers and over 35 Indiana Members Credit Union volunteers provided an all-star assist to Riverside School 44 as it held its Back to School event on Friday, August 1.

William McKinley School 39 kindergarten teacher Lynn Baumann spent her short summer break preparing to teach teachers in Uganda, Africa. Baumann along with three other teachers from Indianapolis traveled to Arua, Uganda, in July and facilitated a “Best Practices in Teaching” workshop for local teachers.

A growing number of Indianapolis Public Schools seniors are taking steps toward a bright future in college, and we couldn’t be more proud of them!

At the August 28 Indianapolis Public Schools Board of School Commissioners action session the 2015 budget was approved. The budget of just over $382 million will go into effect on January 1, 2015.

For the last several years Meredith Nicholson School 96 has taken a professional development opportunity and expanded it. In the summer of 2008, IUPUI professor Dr. Annela Teemant began actively working with Meredith Nicholson staff. The goal? Develop the school as a district demonstration site for best instructional practices for English Language Learners (ELLs).

When Commissioner Samuel Odle was asked to moderate this year’s Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series, he didn’t realize it would directly impact the future of a promising Indianapolis Public Schools student.

It’s great to see Lew Wallace teachers embracing an exciting tool for literacy like LEGO Education StoryStarter and to watch the students playing their way to becoming better readers and writers!