Muncie Meets School Board Candidates

(Image courtesy of Ball State University.)

Candidates for the Muncie Community Schools board delivered public presentations Tuesday at Muncie Central High School. Ball State University will take control of the district July 1 and its board of trustees will select five members of the local district, while the Muncie mayor and city council will each appoint one member. Each offered a vision for the role and answered questions from BSU President Geoff Mearns involving ideas to transform the district into a "thriving school system" and thoughts on encouraging parents that have taken their children outside the district to enroll in Muncie schools.

In his opening remarks, Mearns said Ball State has an obligation to take on the responsibility of overseeing its hometown school corporation. "This responsibility is not ours alone at Ball State. This must be a community effort and our partnership with the Muncie community — with the entire community — with the students, with their families, with the teachers and the staff, with the civic organizations, with the business community and many of you here and all across Muncie," Mearns said, "this must be a comprehensive collaboration. That must be at the heart of this initiative."

Some 1,600 students are enrolled in Muncie Community Schools. Ball State says its oversight arrangement will be the first of its kind in Indiana and the nation. The Indiana General Assembly and Governor Eric Holcomb signed off on legislation to greenlight the takeover during a special session of the legislature last month.

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