Forum with Bennett on three South Bend schools

SOUTH BEND — The state’s superintendent of public instruction, Tony Bennett, plans to come to town April 28 for a public forum about three high schools on academic probation: Bendix, Riley and Washington. Parents and community members are welcome to the forum with Bennett at 3 p.m. April 28 in the Bendix Theater of the Century Center, 120 S. St. Joseph St. He’ll speak, and questions will be taken from the audience. It is scheduled to last one hour. At 5 p.m., he will meet with the South Bend Community School Corp.’s board to address the trustees’ questions on the topic. That will be a public meeting in the corporation’s Administration Building, 215 S. St. Joseph St. It will air live on radio station WETL (91.7 FM). A few days before that, April 23, is the deadline for the corporation to submit its plans for lifting the schools’ performance to the Indiana Department of Education. But South Bend Superintendent James Kapsa suggested Wednesday that there still will be room for input. "There is going to be discussion and dialogue on this," said Kapsa, alluding to the fact that the state will then need to approve the plan. "It’s not as if it’s going to be over on the 28th." If the schools don’t show improvement over the next year, they face possible state intervention. The forum with Bennett has been in the works since a small group of parents and community leaders visited him in Indianapolis on March 24 to seek clarifications about the fate of the three schools. Staff writer Joseph Dits: jdits@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6158