When the next school year opens in August, students at Herron High School will be learning next door to some much youngster students, with the opening of Herron Preparatory Academy.
The new school is part of the Indianapolis Classical Schools network, which in addition to HHS includes Riverside High School. Herron Preparatory Academy will be launched with 120 students in kindergarten through second grade, to be housed in a modular building containing 10 classrooms on the north parking lot of the charter school which sits at the corner of 16th and Pennsylvania streets in the Herron-Morton Place neighborhood.
The new academic facility will be led by Dr. Tenika Holden-Flynn, currently the interim head of school at Herron High School. She said the elementary program was being launched “so that students are prepared to be successful” in the classical-education programs offered at Herron and Riverside high schools.
Sean Henseleit will serve as the new school’s director of curriculum and instruction. He has served as the director of academic accountability and English-language coordinator for Indianapolis Classical Schools and has special expertise in elementary instruction, coaching, and data analysis.
Henseleit said that after the coming school year Herron Preparatory Academy will grow by one grade level a year until it reaches the K-8 level. He added that the temporary facility will be used for two years while the search goes on for a permanent home for the school, preferably close to Herron High School but definitely in Center Township. The search includes both existing facilities and new construction.
Like the two high schools operated by Indianapolis Classical Schools, Herron Preparatory Academy is a tuition-free, intentionally diverse, public charter school.
Indianapolis Classical Schools, headed by Janet McNeal, the original head of school at Herron High School, plans to extend the success of its classical, liberal arts curriculum to prepare students for high school, with a mission to serve an intentionally diverse population.
Enrollment began Oct. 30, with round one ending on Jan. 29. Applicants will learn the results on Feb. 23. Round two will run from Feb. 1 through April 30, with results announced May 20. Late enrollment will be available after April 30 if any spaces remain.
Herron Preparatory Academy uses the unified enrollment system, Enroll Indy. To submit an application, go to https://enrollindy.org/onematch/apply/. For more information, go to www.herronprep.org.
PHOTO ABOVE: Herron High School sits at the corner of 16th and Pennsylvania street, and will feature the new Herron Preparatory Academy in a modular building to be placed on its north parking lot.
