The International Baccalaureate Program, or IB Program, is an educational curriculum that helps students reflect on knowledge, complete research and community service and prepare for college-level classes. John Adams High School has been an IB World School since the spring of 2006, providing for hundreds of South Bend students the opportunity to pursue an IB Diploma. With South Bend School Corporation’s Facilities Master Plan approved four to three by the school board in April 2023, Clay High School will be closing. Not only will all Clay students transfer to their choice of South Bend school, but transportation to high schools across the corporation also plans to cease. These changes are damaging to the corporation and community and the IB Program should be available to all students within the SBCSC Corporation.
The IB Program within the South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) is only offered at Adams High School. In contrast, Adams High School, Washington High School and Riley High School offer the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. The CTE program allows high school SBCSC students to earn college credits through college-level classes in collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College. Looking at new district maps released in September for the updated Master Facilities Plan, students outside of Adams’ district will no longer have public transportation to school.
The voting for the new boundary placements will occur this month by the SBCSC Board and Department of Justice. These revisions largely impact the transportation of students, which means that students who rely on transportation and who want to go to Adams who live out of district will no longer be able to attend the IB program. Personally, I ride the bus every day as a 12th grade student because I have no other way to get to school. I have taken multiple IB classes during my time at Adams, and I can say I have benefited from the IB Program. With these new changes, my younger siblings would not be able to attend Adams or the IB Program in the future because there would be no way to get to school.
All students who live on the far west side of South Bend would be only transported to Washington High School or Riley High School, which do not have the IB Program. These new proposed boundary changes directly go against SBCSC’s mission statement of, “together with our community, we create equitable, inclusive, and just schools to ensure all students achieve academic and personal success.” By forcing high school students to move their home schools based on transportation and location, students should be given access to the IB Program.
SBCSC has 13,800 students who come from many different financial and geographic backgrounds. 64.8% of SBCSC students are economically disadvantaged- 57.5% of Adams’ student population being financially challenged. On average, in 2021 high schools in the U.S. had a white student population of 45%, while Adams High School had 35.6% in the 2020-2021 school year. According to Public School Review, Adams High School is ranked within the top 5% of Indiana schools based on diversity. Visual data at bestneighborhood.org points to the majority of Hispanic and African American students in the SBCSC district living on the city’s west side, who, with the new border changes, would not have access to public transit to Adams High School. With the wide variety of economic backgrounds in the city, it is important for SBCSC to maintain access for transportation to Adams High school for the IB Program.
The IB program is a wonderful opportunity for students of all backgrounds to not only receive a more prestigious education and prepare for college, but also learn from some of the most proven and knowledgeable teachers in the school corporation. Although the IB is academically rigorous, providing the IB program for all South Bend students benefits both South Bend schools and South Bend as a whole. Offering pathways to a better education and a brighter future should be the forefront objective of SBCSC and its reformation.
